Detailed Action
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Claims 1-20 are pending 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.
Claims 8-14 are rejected on the ground of nonstatutory double patenting as being unpatentable over claims 11-18 of U.S. Patent No. 12,250,194 (“Patent ‘194”).
Although the claims at issue are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other because as shown below, claims of Patent ‘194 anticipates the subject matter of claims 8-14.
Instant Application
Patent ‘194
8. A non-transitory machine readable medium storing a program for execution by at least one processing unit, the program comprising sets of instructions for:
11. A non-transitory machine readable medium storing a program which when executed by at least one processing unit facilitates a network address translation (NAT) operation in a first network of a first datacenter that comprises a plurality of host computers each of which executes a set of one or more machines, the program comprising sets of instructions for:
receiving, at a router of a first network, an advertisement of different external network addresses that different host computers use to send data messages from machines executing on the host computers to at least a second network separate from the first network;
at a router of the first network:
receiving advertisement of different external network addresses that different host computers use to send data messages from the machines that they execute to at least one external second network separate from the first network;
identifying, for a received flow having a header storing a destination network address comprising an advertised external network address, an internal network address associated with a host computer that used the particular advertised external network address;
identifying, for each received flow that has a header storing a destination network address that is a particular advertised external network address, an internal network address associated with a host computer that used the particular advertised external network address, using a cache storing information regarding forwarding decisions made for previously received packets and NAT records;
collecting performance metrics associated with the NAT operations; storing the performance metrics in a time-series database for access by a controller; accessing the performance metrics from the time-series database to generate aggregated metrics related to the NAT operations;
encapsulating packets of the received flow with an encapsulating header that uses the identified internal network address as a destination address; and
encapsulating packets of each received flow with an encapsulating header that uses the identified internal network address as a destination address;
forwarding the encapsulated packets along the first network for network address translation (NAT) instances executing on the host computers to:
translate destination addresses in the packet headers from external network addresses to internal network addresses used by the machines, and forward the packets to machines on the host computers.
forwarding the encapsulated packets along the first network for NAT instances executing on the host computers to decapsulate,
to translate the destination addresses in the packet headers from the external network addresses to internal network addresses used by the machines, and to use the translated destination addresses to forward the packets to machines on the host computers.
Claims 9-14 are unpatentable over claims 12-18 of Patent ‘194.
Claims 1-7, 15-20 are rejected on the ground of nonstatutory double patenting as being unpatentable over claims 11-18 of U.S. Patent No. 12,250,194 (“Patent ‘194”).
Although the claims at issue are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other because as shown below, claims of Patent ‘194 substantially discloses the subject matter of the claims with the differences being obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art.
Instant Application
Patent ‘194
1. A method comprising:
11. A non-transitory machine readable medium storing a program which when executed by at least one processing unit facilitates a network address translation (NAT) operation in a first network of a first datacenter that comprises a plurality of host computers each of which executes a set of one or more machines, the program comprising sets of instructions for:
receiving, at a router of a first network, an advertisement associated with different external network addresses used by different host computers to send data messages from machines executing on the host computers to at least a second network separate from the first network;
at a router of the first network:
receiving advertisement of different external network addresses that different host computers use to send data messages from the machines that they execute to at least one external second network separate from the first network;
identifying, for a received flow having a header storing a destination network address comprising an advertised external network address, an internal network address associated with a host computer that used the advertised external network address;
identifying, for each received flow that has a header storing a destination network address that is a particular advertised external network address, an internal network address associated with a host computer that used the particular advertised external network address, using a cache storing information regarding forwarding decisions made for previously received packets and NAT records;
collecting performance metrics associated with the NAT operations; storing the performance metrics in a time-series database for access by a controller; accessing the performance metrics from the time-series database to generate aggregated metrics related to the NAT operations;
encapsulating packets of the received flow with an encapsulating header comprising the identified internal network address as a destination address; and
encapsulating packets of each received flow with an encapsulating header that uses the identified internal network address as a destination address;
forwarding the encapsulated packets using the first network for network address translation (NAT) instances executing on the host computers to:
translate destination addresses in the packet headers from external network addresses to internal network addresses used by the machines, and forward the packets to machines configured on the host computers.
forwarding the encapsulated packets along the first network for NAT instances executing on the host computers to decapsulate,
to translate the destination addresses in the packet headers from the external network addresses to internal network addresses used by the machines, and to use the translated destination addresses to forward the packets to machines on the host computers.
Claim 1 is unpatentable over claim 11 of Patent ‘194. The claims differ in that claim 1 of the application is directed to a method while claim 11 of Patent ‘194 is directed to a non-transitory machine readable medium. However, the non-transitory machine readable medium stores a program comprising instructions to perform operations, which correspond to steps of claim 1. As such, when the program is executed, the steps of the method are performed and disclosed by Patent ‘194.
Claim 15 is unpatentable over clam 11 of Patent ‘194. The claims differ in that claim 15 of the application is directed to a system comprising a router in a first network, and a set of host computers in the first network, while claim 11 of Patent ‘194 is directed to a non-transitory machine readable medium. However, the non-transitory machine readable medium stores a program comprising instructions to perform operations at a router of the first network and discloses NAT instances executing on host computers to translate addresses. Claim 11 of Patent ‘194 requires a router and a set of host computers. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have implemented a system comprising a router and host computers to execute instructions of the medium in order to have implemented the invention on a computer network.
Claims 2-7 are unpatentable over claims 12-18 of Patent ‘194.
Claims 16-20 are unpatentable over claims 12-17 of Patent ‘194.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 4-5, 11-12, 18-19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Regarding claim 4, the claim recites, “the internal network addresses comprise Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) addresses and the external network addresses are Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4) addresses.” It is not clear which internal network addresses and external network addresses are being referred to by “the internal network addresses” and “the external network addresses.” Claim 1 discloses a first instance, where the claim recites, “different external network addresses used by different host computers,” “identifying… an internal network address associated with a host computer that used the advertised external network address.” Claim 1 discloses a second instance, wherein the claim recites, “translate destination addresses in the packet headers from external network addresses to internal network addresses used by the machines.” The claim discloses internal/external network addresses associated with the identifying and encapsulating, and internal/external network addresses associating with the translating by NAT instances executing on host computers.
Regarding claim 5, advertisement comprises an advertised IPv6 address prefix based on an external IPv4 address used by NAT instances on host computers to replace source addresses of packets sent from within the first network to the second network. The claim is directed to further defining the advertisement that is received at the router (see claim 1). It is not clear whether the underlined feature is required since the underlined is directed to a function of the NAT instances on host computers. Furthermore, it is not clear how the IPv6 address prefix is based on “an external IPv4 address used by NAT instances on host computers to replace source addresses of packets sent from within the first network to the second network.” It is recognized that the IPv4 address is used by NAT instances to replace source addresses of packets. It is not clear how the IPv6 address prefix is based on this function. The scope of the invention is not clear.
Regarding claim 11, the claim recites, “the internal network addresses comprise Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) addresses and the external network addresses are Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4) addresses.” It is not clear which internal network addresses and external network addresses are being referred to by “the internal network addresses” and “the external network addresses.” Claim 8 discloses a first instance, where the claim recites, “different external network addresses used by different host computers,” “identifying… an internal network address associated with a host computer that used the advertised external network address.” Claim 8 discloses a second instance, wherein the claim recites, “translate destination addresses in the packet headers from external network addresses to internal network addresses used by the machines.” The claim discloses internal/external network addresses associated with the identifying and encapsulating, and internal/external network addresses associating with the translating by NAT instances executing on host computers.
Regarding claim 12, advertisement comprises an advertised IPv6 address prefix based on an external IPv4 address used by NAT instances on host computers to replace source addresses of packets sent from within the first network to the second network. The claim is directed to further defining the advertisement that is received at the router (see claim 8). It is not clear whether the underlined feature is required since the underlined language is directed to a function of the NAT instances on host computers. Furthermore, it is not clear how the IPv6 address prefix is based on “an external IPv4 address used by NAT instances on host computers to replace source addresses of packets sent from within the first network to the second network.” It is recognized that the IPv4 address is used by the NAT instances to replace source addresses. It is recognized that the IPv4 address is used by NAT instances to replace source addresses of packets. It is not clear how the IPv6 address prefix is based on this function. The scope of the invention is not clear.
Regarding claim 18, the claim recites, “the internal network addresses comprise Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) addresses and the external network addresses are Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4) addresses.” It is not clear which internal network addresses and external network addresses are being referred to by “the internal network addresses” and “the external network addresses.” Claim 15 discloses a first instance, where the claim recites, “different external network addresses used by different host computers,” “identifying… an internal network address associated with a host computer that used the advertised external network address.” Claim 15 discloses a second instance, wherein the claim recites, “translate destination addresses in the packet headers from external network addresses to internal network addresses used by the machines.” The claim discloses internal/external network addresses associated with the identifying and encapsulating, and internal/external network addresses associating with the translating by NAT instances executing on host computers.
Regarding claim 19, advertisement comprises an advertised IPv6 address prefix based on an external IPv4 address used by NAT instances on host computers to replace source addresses of packets sent from within the first network to the second network. The claim is directed to further defining the advertisement that is received at the router (see claim 15). It is not clear whether the underlined feature is required since the underlined language is directed to a function of the NAT instances on host computers. Furthermore, it is not clear how the IPv6 address prefix is based on “an external IPv4 address used by NAT instances on host computers to replace source addresses of packets sent from within the first network to the second network.” It is recognized that the IPv4 address is used by the NAT instances to replace source addresses. It is recognized that the IPv4 address is used by NAT instances to replace source addresses of packets. It is not clear how the IPv6 address prefix is based on this function. The scope of the invention is not clear.
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.
Claims 1, 4, 6, 8, 11, 13, 15, 18, and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ghule et al. US Patent Publication No. 2021/0126863 (“Ghule”) in view of van Bemmel US Patent Publication No. 2015/0063363 (“van Bammel”), and Imai US Patent Publication No. 2014/0122681 (“Imai”).
Regarding claim 1, Ghule teaches a method comprising:
identifying, for a received flow having a header storing a destination network address comprising an external network address, an internal network address associated with a host computer (para. [0029] IPv4 network packet that it receives from IPv4 network. network device 10 may perform Mapping of Address and Port with Encapsulation (MAP-E) to map the IPv4 destination address and destination port specified by the IPv4 network packet to an IPv6 destination address);
encapsulating packets of the received flow with an encapsulating header comprising the identified internal network address as a destination address; and forwarding the encapsulated packets using the first network (para. [0029] to route an IPv4 network packet through IPv6 network 6 to its intended destination, network device 10 may encapsulate an IPv4 network packet that it receives from IPv4 network within an IPv6 network packet. network device 10… encapsulate the IPv4 network packet within an IPv6 network packet that specifies the IPv6 destination address).
Ghule does not teach:
receiving, at a router of a first network, an advertisement associated with different external network addresses used by different host computers to send data messages from machines executing on the host computers to at least a second network separate from the first network;
a host computer that used the advertised external network address;
forwarding the encapsulated packets using the first network for network address translation (NAT) instances executing on the host computers to: translate destination addresses in the packet headers from external network addresses to internal network addresses used by the machines, and forward the packets to machines configured on the host computers.
van Bemmel discloses receiving, at a router of a first network, an advertisement associated with different external network addresses used by different host computers to send data messages from machines executing on the host computers to at least a second network separate from the first network; and a host computer that used the advertised external network address (para. [0020] at least one of the data centers 112 utilizes BGP to advertise the IPv6 address of the virtual machine 115, as indicated in the figure. notation "/64" associated with the BGP messaging defines a subnet range and represents the number of bits in the prefix, in this case 64 bits out of a total of 128 bits in an IPv6 address. para. [0056] virtual machine 115 processes the request packet and generates a corresponding response packet that has as its destination address the IPv6 address 2001:1:1:10.0.0.2 and as its source address the IPv6 address 3002::1.2.3.4 of the virtual machine). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Ghule with van Bemmel’s disclosure of receiving, at the router, the advertisement such that the router of the first network as disclosed by Ghule receives the advertisement. One of ordinary skill in the in the art would have been motivated to do so in order to have updated the router with routing information in order for the router to communicate packets between devices.
Imai discloses network address translation (NAT) instances executing on host computers to (para. [0035 physical server 20 also includes… translation module. para. [0054] physical servers 20): translate destination addresses in packet headers from external network addresses to internal network addresses used by machines, and forward the packets to machines configured on host computers (para. [0037] v4v6 translation module 22 performs network address translation (NAT) in order to translate a v4 address used for communication with the customer intranet 4 into a virtual v4 address used by the virtual machine 23. v4v6 translation module 22 also performs NAT in order to translate the virtual v4 address used by the virtual machine 23 into the v4 address used for communication with the customer intranet 4). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Ghule with van Bemmel’s disclosure of executing NAT instances on host computers to translate addresses and forward packets to machines configured on the host computers. One of ordinary skill in the in the art would have been motivated to do so for benefits of utilizing virtual machines to provide services and enabling of communications to/from the virtual machines using IP versions used by the virtual machines.
Regarding claim 8, Ghule teaches a non-transitory machine readable medium storing a program for execution by at least one processing unit, the program comprising sets of instructions for:
identifying, for a received flow having a header storing a destination network address comprising an advertised external network address, an internal network address associated with a host computer that used the particular advertised external network address (para. [0029] IPv4 network packet that it receives from IPv4 network. Network device 10 may perform Mapping of Address and Port with Encapsulation (MAP-E) to map the IPv4 destination address and destination port specified by the IPv4 network packet to an IPv6 destination address);
encapsulating packets of the received flow with an encapsulating header that uses the identified internal network address as a destination address; and forwarding the encapsulated packets along the first network (para. [0029] to route an IPv4 network packet through IPv6 network 6 to its intended destination, network device 10 may encapsulate an IPv4 network packet that it receives from IPv4 network within an IPv6 network packet. Network device 10… encapsulate the IPv4 network packet within an IPv6 network packet that specifies the IPv6 destination address); and
Ghule does not teach:
receiving, at a router of a first network, an advertisement of different external network addresses that different host computers use to send data messages from machines executing on the host computers to at least a second network separate from the first network;
a host computer that used the particular advertised external network address;
forwarding the encapsulated packets along the first network for network address translation (NAT) instances executing on the host computers to:
translate destination addresses in the packet headers from external network addresses to internal network addresses used by the machines, and forward the packets to machines on the host computers.
van Bemmel discloses receiving, at a router of a first network, an advertisement associated with different external network addresses used by different host computers to send data messages from machines executing on the host computers to at least a second network separate from the first network; and a host computer that used the advertised external network address (para. [0020] at least one of the data centers 112 utilizes BGP to advertise the IPv6 address of the virtual machine 115, as indicated in the figure. notation "/64" associated with the BGP messaging defines a subnet range and represents the number of bits in the prefix, in this case 64 bits out of a total of 128 bits in an IPv6 address. Para. [0056] virtual machine 115 processes the request packet and generates a corresponding response packet that has as its destination address the IPv6 address 2001:1:1:10.0.0.2 and as its source address the IPv6 address 3002::1.2.3.4 of the virtual machine). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Ghule with van Bemmel’s disclosure of receiving, at the router, the advertisement such that the router of the first network as disclosed by Ghule receives the advertisement. One of ordinary skill in the in the art would have been motivated to do so in order to have updated the router with routing information in order for the router to communicate packets between devices.
Imai discloses network address translation (NAT) instances executing on the host computers to: translate destination addresses in packet headers from external network addresses to internal network addresses used by machines, and forward the packets to machines configured on host computers (para. [0037] v4v6 translation module 22 performs network address translation (NAT) in order to translate a v4 address used for communication with the customer intranet 4 into a virtual v4 address used by the virtual machine 23. v4v6 translation module 22 also performs NAT in order to translate the virtual v4 address used by the virtual machine 23 into the v4 address used for communication with the customer intranet 4). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Ghule with van Bemmel’s disclosure of executing NAT instances on host computers to translate addresses and forward packets to machines configured on the host computers. One of ordinary skill in the in the art would have been motivated to do so for benefits of utilizing virtual machines to provide services and enabling of communications to/from the virtual machines using IP versions used by the virtual machines.
Regarding claim 15, Ghule teaches a system comprising: a router in a first network; and a set of host computers in the first network, each host computer executing a set of machines and a network address translation (NAT) instance;
the router configured to:
receive an advertisement of different external network addresses that different host computers use to send data messages from the machines to at least one second network separate from the first network;
identify, for a received flow having a header storing a destination network address comprising an advertised external network address, an internal network address associated with a host computer that used the particular advertised external network address (para. [0029] IPv4 network packet that it receives from IPv4 network. Network device 10 may perform Mapping of Address and Port with Encapsulation (MAP-E) to map the IPv4 destination address and destination port specified by the IPv4 network packet to an IPv6 destination address);
encapsulate packets of the received flow with an encapsulating header that uses the identified internal network address as a destination address; and forward the encapsulated packets (para. [0029] to route an IPv4 network packet through IPv6 network 6 to its intended destination, network device 10 may encapsulate an IPv4 network packet that it receives from IPv4 network within an IPv6 network packet. Network device 10… encapsulate the IPv4 network packet within an IPv6 network packet that specifies the IPv6 destination address).
Ghule does not teach:
the router configured to: receive an advertisement of different external network addresses that different host computers use to send data messages from the machines to at least one second network separate from the first network;
a host computer that used the particular advertised external network address;
forward the encapsulated packets along the first network; wherein the NAT instances is configured to: decapsulate the encapsulated packets; translate destination addresses in the packet headers from external network addresses to internal network addresses used by the machines; and forward the packets to machines on the host computers.
van Bemmel discloses receiving, at a router of a first network, an advertisement associated with different external network addresses used by different host computers to send data messages from machines executing on the host computers to at least a second network separate from the first network; and a host computer that used the advertised external network address (para. [0020] at least one of the data centers 112 utilizes BGP to advertise the IPv6 address of the virtual machine 115, as indicated in the figure. notation "/64" associated with the BGP messaging defines a subnet range and represents the number of bits in the prefix, in this case 64 bits out of a total of 128 bits in an IPv6 address. Para. [0056] virtual machine 115 processes the request packet and generates a corresponding response packet that has as its destination address the IPv6 address 2001:1:1:10.0.0.2 and as its source address the IPv6 address 3002::1.2.3.4 of the virtual machine). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Ghule with van Bemmel’s disclosure of receiving, at the router, the advertisement such that the router of the first network as disclosed by Ghule receives the advertisement. One of ordinary skill in the in the art would have been motivated to do so in order to have updated the router with routing information in order for the router to communicate packets between devices.
Imai discloses network address translation (NAT) instances executing on the host computers to: translate destination addresses in packet headers from external network addresses to internal network addresses used by machines, and forward the packets to machines configured on host computers (para. [0037] v4v6 translation module 22 performs network address translation (NAT) in order to translate a v4 address used for communication with the customer intranet 4 into a virtual v4 address used by the virtual machine 23. v4v6 translation module 22 also performs NAT in order to translate the virtual v4 address used by the virtual machine 23 into the v4 address used for communication with the customer intranet 4). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Ghule with van Bemmel’s disclosure of executing NAT instances on host computers to translate addresses and forward packets to machines configured on the host computers. One of ordinary skill in the in the art would have been motivated to do so for benefits of utilizing virtual machines to provide services and enabling of communications to/from the virtual machines using IP versions used by the virtual machines.
Regarding claim 4, Ghule in view of van Bemmel and Imai teach the method of claim 1, wherein the internal network addresses comprise Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) addresses and the external network addresses are Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4) addresses (Ghule: para. [0029] IPv4 network packet that it receives from IPv4 network. Network device 10 may perform Mapping of Address and Port with Encapsulation (MAP-E) to map the IPv4 destination address and destination port specified by the IPv4 network packet to an IPv6 destination address).
Regarding claim 6, Ghule in view of van Bemmel and Imai teach the method of claim 1, wherein identifying the internal network address is based on a routing entry in a routing table of the router that is created based on the received advertisement (Ghule: para. [0029] perform Mapping of Address and Port with Encapsulation (MAP-E) to map the IPv4 destination address and destination port specified by the IPv4 network packet to an IPv6 destination address. van Bemmel discloses receiving the advertisement).
Regarding claim 11 Ghule in view of van Bemmel and Imai teach the non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 8, wherein the internal network addresses comprise Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) addresses and the external network addresses are Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4) addresses (Ghule: para. [0029] IPv4 network packet that it receives from IPv4 network. Network device 10 may perform Mapping of Address and Port with Encapsulation (MAP-E) to map the IPv4 destination address and destination port specified by the IPv4 network packet to an IPv6 destination address).
Regarding claim 13 Ghule in view of van Bemmel and Imai teach the non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 8, wherein the set of instructions for identifying the internal network address comprises a set of instructions for using a routing entry in a routing table of the router that is created based on the received advertisement (Ghule: para. [0029] perform Mapping of Address and Port with Encapsulation (MAP-E) to map the IPv4 destination address and destination port specified by the IPv4 network packet to an IPv6 destination address. van Bemmel discloses receiving the advertisement).
Regarding claim 18 Ghule in view of van Bemmel and Imai teach the system of claim 15, wherein the internal network addresses are Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) addresses and the external network addresses are Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4) addresses (Ghule: para. [0029] IPv4 network packet that it receives from IPv4 network. Network device 10 may perform Mapping of Address and Port with Encapsulation (MAP-E) to map the IPv4 destination address and destination port specified by the IPv4 network packet to an IPv6 destination address).
Regarding claim 20 Ghule in view of van Bemmel and Imai teach the system of claim 19, wherein the router is configured to identify the internal network address based on a routing entry in a routing table of the router that is created based on the received advertisement (Ghule: para. [0029] perform Mapping of Address and Port with Encapsulation (MAP-E) to map the IPv4 destination address and destination port specified by the IPv4 network packet to an IPv6 destination address. van Bemmel discloses receiving the advertisement).
Claims 2-3, 9-10, 16-17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ghule in view of van Bemmel, Imai, and Tomotaki et al. US Patent Publication No. 2017/0054628 (“Tomotaki”).
Regarding claim 2, Ghule does not teach the method of claim 1, wherein receiving the advertisement comprises receiving the advertisement from a set of one or more route reflectors within the first network.
Tomotaki discloses receiving advertisement from a set of one or more route reflectors within a first network (para. [0013] BGP router may forward the route advertisement to a route reflector router via IBGP, and the route reflector router may forward the route advertisement to all its client routers. para. [0015] receive a BGP route advertisement from one of its client routers, may forward the BGP route advertisement to all its other client routers). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Ghule with Tomotaki’s disclosure of receiving an advertisement from one or more route reflectors. One of ordinary skill in the in the art would have been motivated to do so for benefits of exchanging routing and/or reachability information while providing alleviation of scaling.
Regarding claim 3, Ghule does not teach the method of claim 2, wherein the set of one or more route reflectors receives the advertisement from routing modules executing on the host computers
van Bemmel discloses advertisements from routing modules executing on host computers (para. [0020] at least one of the data centers 112 utilizes BGP to advertise the IPv6 address of the virtual machine 115, as indicated in the figure. notation "/64" associated with the BGP messaging defines a subnet range and represents the number of bits in the prefix, in this case 64 bits out of a total of 128 bits in an IPv6 address. para. [0056] virtual machine 115 processes the request packet and generates a corresponding response packet that has as its destination address the IPv6 address 2001:1:1:10.0.0.2 and as its source address the IPv6 address 3002::1.2.3.4 of the virtual machine). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Ghule and Tomotaki with van Bemmel’s disclosure such that the route reflectors receive advertisements from the routing modules. One of ordinary skill in the in the art would have been motivated to do so in order to have updated routing information on network devices.
Regarding claim 9, Ghule does not teach the non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 8, wherein the set of instructions for receiving the advertisement comprises a set of instructions for receiving the advertisement from a set of one or more route reflectors within the first network.
Tomotaki discloses receiving advertisement from a set of one or more route reflectors within a first network (para. [0013] BGP router may forward the route advertisement to a route reflector router via IBGP, and the route reflector router may forward the route advertisement to all its client routers. para. [0015] receive a BGP route advertisement from one of its client routers, may forward the BGP route advertisement to all its other client routers). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Ghule with Tomotaki’s disclosure. One of ordinary skill in the in the art would have been motivated to do so for benefits of exchanging routing and/or reachability information while providing alleviation of scaling.
Regarding claim 10, Ghule does not teach the non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 9, wherein the set of one or more route reflectors receives the advertisement from routing modules executing on the host computers.
van Bemmel discloses advertisements from routing modules executing on host computers (para. [0020] at least one of the data centers 112 utilizes BGP to advertise the IPv6 address of the virtual machine 115, as indicated in the figure. notation "/64" associated with the BGP messaging defines a subnet range and represents the number of bits in the prefix, in this case 64 bits out of a total of 128 bits in an IPv6 address. para. [0056] virtual machine 115 processes the request packet and generates a corresponding response packet that has as its destination address the IPv6 address 2001:1:1:10.0.0.2 and as its source address the IPv6 address 3002::1.2.3.4 of the virtual machine). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Ghule and Tomotaki with van Bemmel’s disclosure such that the route reflectors receive advertisements from the routing modules. One of ordinary skill in the in the art would have been motivated to do so in order to have updated routing information on network devices.
Regarding claim 16, Ghule does not teach the system of claim 15, wherein the router is configured to receive the advertisement from a set of one or more route reflectors within the first network.
Tomotaki discloses receiving advertisement from a set of one or more route reflectors within a first network (para. [0013] BGP router may forward the route advertisement to a route reflector router via IBGP, and the route reflector router may forward the route advertisement to all its client routers. para. [0015] receive a BGP route advertisement from one of its client routers, may forward the BGP route advertisement to all its other client routers). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Ghule with Tomotaki’s disclosure. One of ordinary skill in the in the art would have been motivated to do so for benefits of exchanging routing and/or reachability information while providing alleviation of scaling.
Regarding claim 17, Ghule does not teach the system of claim 16, wherein the set of one or more route reflectors is configured to receive the advertisement from routing modules executing on the host computers.
van Bemmel discloses advertisements from routing modules executing on host computers (para. [0020] at least one of the data centers 112 utilizes BGP to advertise the IPv6 address of the virtual machine 115, as indicated in the figure. notation "/64" associated with the BGP messaging defines a subnet range and represents the number of bits in the prefix, in this case 64 bits out of a total of 128 bits in an IPv6 address. para. [0056] virtual machine 115 processes the request packet and generates a corresponding response packet that has as its destination address the IPv6 address 2001:1:1:10.0.0.2 and as its source address the IPv6 address 3002::1.2.3.4 of the virtual machine). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Ghule and Tomotaki with van Bemmel’s disclosure such that the route reflectors receive advertisements from the routing modules. One of ordinary skill in the in the art would have been motivated to do so in order to have updated routing information on network devices.
Claims 5, 12, and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ghule in view of van Bemmel, Imai, and Boucadair et al. US Patent Publication No. 2022/0311734 (“Boucadair”).
Regarding claim 5, Ghule does not teach the method of claim 4, wherein the advertisement comprises an advertised IPv6 address prefix based on an external IPv4 address used by NAT instances on host computers to replace source addresses of packets sent from within the first network to the second network.
Boucadair discloses advertisement comprises an advertised IPv6 address prefix based on an external IPv4 address to replace addresses of packets (para. [0073] reception of an advertisement message originating from the network comprising at least one IPv6 prefix used by a function for converting IPv4 packets into IPv6 packets implemented by the network). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Ghule with Boucadair’s disclosure of the advertising an IPv6 address prefix. One of ordinary skill in the in the art would have been motivated to do so because it would have been desirable to have updated the router with routing information, including an address prefix, for communicating packets.
Imai discloses external IPv4 address used by NAT instances on host computers to replace source addresses of packets sent from within the first network to the second network (para. [0037] performs NAT in order to translate the virtual v4 address used by the virtual machine 23 into the v4 address used for communication with the customer intranet 4. claim 8. translate an IPv4 address indicating a transmission source in a packet transmitted by the information processing apparatus into an IPv6 address). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Ghule and Boucadair with Imai’s disclosure. One of ordinary skill in the in the art would have been motivated to do so for benefits of utilizing virtual machines to provide services and enabling of communications to/from the virtual machines using IP versions used by the virtual machines.
Regarding claim 12, Ghule does not teach the non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 11, wherein the advertisement comprises an advertised IPv6 address prefix based on an external IPv4 address used by NAT instances on host computers to replace source addresses of packets sent from within the first network to the second network.
Boucadair discloses advertisement comprises an advertised IPv6 address prefix based on an external IPv4 address to replace addresses of packets (para. [0073] reception of an advertisement message originating from the network comprising at least one IPv6 prefix used by a function for converting IPv4 packets into IPv6 packets implemented by the network). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Ghule with Boucadair’s disclosure. One of ordinary skill in the in the art would have been motivated to do so because it would have been desirable to have updated the router with routing information for communicating packets.
Imai discloses external IPv4 address used by NAT instances on host computers to replace source addresses of packets sent from within the first network to the second network (para. [0037] performs NAT in order to translate the virtual v4 address used by the virtual machine 23 into the v4 address used for communication with the customer intranet 4. claim 8. translate an IPv4 address indicating a transmission source in a packet transmitted by the information processing apparatus into an IPv6 address). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Ghule and Boucadair with Imai’s disclosure. One of ordinary skill in the in the art would have been motivated to do so for benefits of utilizing virtual machines to provide services and enabling of communications to/from the virtual machines using IP versions used by the virtual machines.
Regarding claim 19, Ghule does not teach the system of claim 18, wherein the advertisement comprises an advertised IPv6 address prefix based on an external IPv4 address used by the NAT instances to replace source addresses of packets sent from within the first network to the second network.
Boucadair discloses advertisement comprises an advertised IPv6 address prefix based on an external IPv4 address to replace addresses of packets (para. [0073] reception of an advertisement message originating from the network comprising at least one IPv6 prefix used by a function for converting IPv4 packets into IPv6 packets implemented by the network). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Ghule with Boucadair’s disclosure. One of ordinary skill in the in the art would have been motivated to do so because it would have been desirable to have updated the router with routing information for communicating packets.
Imai discloses external IPv4 address used by NAT instances on host computers to replace source addresses of packets sent from within the first network to the second network (para. [0037] performs NAT in order to translate the virtual v4 address used by the virtual machine 23 into the v4 address used for communication with the customer intranet 4. claim 8. translate an IPv4 address indicating a transmission source in a packet transmitted by the information processing apparatus into an IPv6 address). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Ghule and Boucadair with Imai’s disclosure. One of ordinary skill in the in the art would have been motivated to do so for benefits of utilizing virtual machines to provide services and enabling of communications to/from the virtual machines using IP versions used by the virtual machines.
Claims 7 and 14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ghule in view of van Bemmel, Imai, and Xiao US Patent Publication No. 2024/0380708 (“Xiao”).
Regarding claim 7, Ghule does not teach the method of claim 1, wherein the NAT instances on the host computers implement a distributed NAT operation, and each NAT instance is assigned a non-overlapping range of IP addresses and port numbers to perform its NAT operation.
Xiao discloses NAT instances on host computers implement a distributed NAT operation, and each NAT instance is assigned a non-overlapping range of IP addresses and port numbers to perform its NAT operation (para. [0013] Each pair can be used to uniquely identify a VM across the group of the tenant logical networks. para. [0070] maintains the NAT agents (510) to which each IP address: port number pair is currently assigned. para. [0071] relevant NAT agent has to perform SNAT within the NAT agent's range of IP address: port number pool). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Ghule with Xiao’s disclosure of NAT instances implementing a distributed NAT operation. One of ordinary skill in the in the art would have been motivated to do so for uniquely identifying a virtual machine and providing efficient access to the VMs.
Regarding claim 14, Ghule does not teach the non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 8, wherein the NAT instances on the host computers implement a distributed NAT operation, and each NAT instance is assigned a non-overlapping range of IP addresses and port numbers to perform its NAT operation.
Xiao discloses NAT instances on host computers implement a distributed NAT operation, and each NAT instance is assigned a non-overlapping range of IP addresses and port numbers to perform its NAT operation (para. [0013] Each pair can be used to uniquely identify a VM across the group of the tenant logical networks. para. [0070] maintains the NAT agents (510) to which each IP address: port number pair is currently assigned. para. [0071] relevant NAT agent has to perform SNAT within the NAT agent's range of IP address: port number pool). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Ghule with Xiao’s disclosure. One of ordinary skill in the in the art would have been motivated to do so for uniquely identifying a virtual machine and providing efficient access to the VMs.
Examiner’s Note
The following prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant’s disclosure.
Lin et al. US Patent Publication No. 2013/0010614 (para. [0046] NPE receives the IPv4 packet which is a response from the IPv4 site, finds out the CPE corresponding to the destination address information in the IPv4 packet, encapsulates the IPv4 packet into an IPv6 packet, and transmits the IPv6 packet via the IPv6 tunnel corresponding to the CPE found)
Matsuhira US Patent Publication No. 2014/0215179 (para. [0032] IPv4 packet is transmitted from the node A and is received by the encapsulation-decapsulation device 10A. The encapsulation-decapsulation device 10A generates an IPv6 address, which is a destination address of the IPv4 packet in the backbone network N)
van Der Merwe et al. US Patent Publication No. 2011/0142053 (para. [0043] computing network manager 132 may advertise the location of the virtual machine VM B by initiating an external BGP (EBGP) and/or a BGP session via the logical router 148. upon advertising the routing to the virtual machine VM B, the network manager 104 may create an interface 304 within the router 106 to forward communication packets from the routers 108 and 110 to the logical router 148 with a destination of the virtual machine VM B)
Conclusion
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/JOSHUA JOO/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2445
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