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 05/01/2025 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 § 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.
Claim(s) 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Xie (US20140282816) in view of Narayanaswamy (US20160330246) herein after ‘Krishna’.
Regarding Claims 1 and 15, Xie discloses A method, comprising: receiving, by a smart terminal and from a browser, (Paragraph [0057] Examiner Note (E.N.) The client device can be a standalone device, and thus, forms a part of a home network. A number of applications including web browsers, instant messaging platforms, email or File Transfer applications run on client device.)
a browsing request to access a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) or an address for externally hosted content, wherein the smart terminal is prevented from directly accessing the URL or the address; (Paragraph [0067] E.N. When the user launches an application on the client device to access certain content over the network or the internet, the content request is intercepted by the firewall. The firewall analyzes the content request and allows or drops the content request based on certain policies.)
routing, by the smart terminal, the browsing request to a secure server; (Figure 6A Paragraph [0087-0088] The user on the client device launches a web browser and initiates a request to access certain content over the network or the Internet. The proxy module receives the request sent by the client device)
checking, by the secure server, the URL or the address against an allowed list or a prohibited list; (Figure 6A and Paragraph [0094] E.N. The proxy module maintains a database that stores all the policies.)
directing, by the secure server, the browser to the URL or the address in response to the URL or the address being on the allowed list, or the URL or the address not being on the prohibited list; and (Paragraph [0095] E.N. The proxy module implements policies stored in the database based on URLs. The blacklist is prepared based on the domain or URL and when the requested domain or URL is found in the defined blacklist, the access is denied. But if the client IP addresses or server IP address or domain or URL are whitelisted, then access is granted and the web page is retrieved and displayed to the user.)
Xie does not, but in related art, Krishna discloses: providing, by the secure server, a secure connection between the browser and the URL or the address. (Figure 6 and Paragraph [0059] E.N. A secure tunnel is used by mobile and computer to communicate with hosted services over a network.)
Therefore, it would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Xie to incorporate the teachings of Krishna because Xie does not explicitly disclose a secure connection between the browser and the URL or the address which is disclosed by Krishna. Incorporating the teachings of Krishna to Xie allows for the user and the application or browser to communicate in a secure manner and keep sensitive information from getting to attackers.
Regarding Claims 2,9 and 16, Xie in view of Krishna discloses the method of claim 1. Xie further discloses wherein a security tool prevents the smart terminal from directly accessing the URL or the address. (Paragraph [0093] E.N. The interception module monitors the attempts made by applications to access content on the network. The interception module captures all the attempts and determines what user is making the attempt, what application or service is making the attempt, and executes a firewall policy check to determine whether the user or application are allowed to connect to the network to access the requested content.)
Regarding Claims 3, 10 and 17, Xie in view of Krishna discloses the method of claim 1. Xie further discloses wherein the allowed list or the prohibited list is based on a security policy. (Paragraph [0095] E.N. The proxy module implements policies stored in the database based on URLs. The blacklist is prepared based on the domain or URL and when the requested domain or URL is found in the defined blacklist, the access is denied. But if the client IP addresses or server IP address or domain or URL are whitelisted, then access is granted and the web page is retrieved and displayed to the user.)
Regarding Claims 4,11 and 18, Xie in view of Krishna discloses the method of claim 1. Xie further discloses wherein the allowed list or the prohibited list is provided by an application development service. (Paragraph [0094] E.N. The Database stores all the policies, users profiles, list of authorized users, a list of unauthorized users, information about blocked content, dropped traffic, or pre-defined messages. The pre-defined message can be stored in any format. The Database also stores information of traffic allowed or blocked previously. The information stored in database is retrieved when desired.)
Regarding Claims 5,12 and 19, Xie in view of Krishna discloses the method of claim 1. Xie further discloses wherein traffic to and from the browser flows through the secure server. (Paragraph [0061] E.N. Firewall policies are configured to control the flow of network traffic through the firewall. A typical firewall policy defines a set of rules applied to traffic passing through the firewall. The firewall policies may be defined to filter packets based on the network address of the source entity, the network address of the destination entity as well as the networking protocol used in the transmission. Additional policies may utilize a list of authorized or unauthorized users to filter traffic, blocking transmission of specific file types or blocking spams. The firewall policies can be implemented for individual users, all users, user groups, content sources, IP addresses, domains, URLs, etc. Each policy may be associated with a unique identifier, which may or may not be displayed to an administrator.)
Regarding Claims 6 and 13, Xie in view of Krishna discloses the method of claim 5. Xie further discloses wherein the secure server monitors the traffic between the browser and the secure server. (Paragraph [0093] E.N. The interception module monitors the attempts made by applications to access content on the network. The interception module captures all the attempts and determines what user is making the attempt, what application or service is making the attempt, and executes a firewall policy check to determine whether the user or application are allowed to connect to network to access the requested content.)
Regarding Claims 7,14 and 20, Xie in view of Krishna discloses the method of claim 1. Xie does not, but in related art, Krishna discloses further comprising: signing, by the secure server, content communicated between the URL or the address and the browser. (Paragraph [0025] E.N. A closely related point is that some clients interface with the network security system differently. The browser add-on clients, for example, redirect the browsers to an explicit proxy. Only the traffic needed to apply the policy to is rerouted and it is done so within the application. The traffic arriving at the network security system can have the user identity embedded in the data or within the secure tunnel headers, e.g. additional headers or SSL client side certificates in some embodiments.)
Therefore, it would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Xie to incorporate the teachings of Krishna because Xie does not explicitly disclose communications between the URL or the address and the browser which is disclosed by Krishna. Incorporating the teachings of Krishna to Xie allows for the user to use their browser to communicate with the URL or the address in a secure manner.
Regarding Claim 8, Xie discloses A system, comprising: a smart terminal executing a browser computer program; (Paragraph [0057] E.N. A number of applications including web browsers, instant messaging platforms, email or File Transfer applications run on the client device.)
a secure server executing a secure server computer program; (Paragraph [0037])
and a database comprising an allowed list or a prohibited list of uniform resource locators (URLs) or addresses hosting external content; (Figure 6A and Paragraph [0094] E.N. The proxy module maintains a database that stores all the policies.)
wherein: the smart terminal receives, from a browser, (Paragraph [0057] Examiner Note (E.N.) The client device can be a standalone device, and thus, forms a part of a home network. A number of applications including web browsers, instant messaging platforms, email or File Transfer applications run on client device.)
a browsing request to access a URL or an address for externally hosted content, wherein the smart terminal is prevented from directly accessing the URL or the address; (Paragraph [0067] E.N. When the user launches an application on the client device to access certain content over the network or the internet, the content request is intercepted by the firewall. The firewall analyzes the content request and allows or drops the content request based on certain policies.)
the smart terminal routes the browsing request to the secure server; (Figure 6A Paragraph [0087-0088] The user on the client device launches a web browser and initiates a request to access certain content over the network or the Internet. The proxy module receives the request sent by the client device)
the secure server computer program checks the URL or the address against the allowed list or the prohibited list; (Figure 6A and Paragraph [0094] E.N. The proxy module maintains a database that stores all the policies.)
the secure server computer program directs the browser to the URL or the address in response to the URL or the address being on the allowed list, or the URL or the address not being on the prohibited list; (Paragraph [0095] E.N. The proxy module implements policies stored in the database based on URLs. The blacklist is prepared based on the domain or URL and when the requested domain or URL is found in the defined blacklist, the access is denied. But if the client IP addresses or server IP address or domain or URL are whitelisted, then access is granted and the web page is retrieved and displayed to the user.)
Xie does not, but in related art, Krishna discloses and the secure server provides a secure connection between the browser and the URL or the address. (Figure 6 and Paragraph [0059] E.N. A secure tunnel is used by mobile and computer to communicate with hosted services over a network.)
Therefore, it would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Xie to incorporate the teachings of Krishna because Xie does not explicitly disclose a secure connection between the browser and the URL or the address which is disclosed by Krishna. Incorporating the teachings of Krishna to Xie allows for the user and the application or browser to communicate in a secure manner and keep sensitive information from getting to attackers.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to AAYUSH ARYAL whose telephone number is (571)272-2838. The examiner can normally be reached 8:00 a.m. - 5:30 p.m..
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/AAYUSH ARYAL/Examiner, Art Unit 2435
/AMIR MEHRMANESH/ Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2435
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