CTNF 19/067,365 CTNF 84067 DETAILED ACTION Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status 07-03-aia AIA 15-10-aia The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA. Priority Applicant’s claim for the benefit of a prior-filed application under 35 U.S.C. 119(e) or under 35 U.S.C. 120, 121, 365(c), or 386(c) is acknowledged. Information Disclosure Statement The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 28 February 2025 has been considered by the examiner. Double Patenting 08-33 AIA 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. 08-34 AIA Claim s 1-20 are rejected on the ground of nonstatutory double patenting as being unpatentable over claim s 1-20 of U.S. Patent No. 12,381,877 . Although the claims at issue are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other because the claims of eh instant application represent a rearrangement and broadening of the subject matter of the claims of the ‘877 Patent, and as such the claims of the ‘877 Patent anticipate the claims of the instant application . As to claim 1 , the ‘877 Patent discloses a cloud provider system to enable communication between serverless function executions and virtualized network environments via user-defined connectors, the cloud provider system comprising (Claim 1: A cloud provider system to enable communication between serverless function executions and virtualized network environments via user-defined connectors, the system comprising): one or more computing devices hosting a user virtualized network environment containing one or more network accessible resources (Claim 1: one or more computing devices hosting a user virtualized network environment containing one or more network accessible resources); a serverless computing system configured to (Claim 1: a serverless computing system configured to): initialize a logical network connector based on user-specified permissions, wherein the user-specified permissions comprise permission for the logical network connector to join the user virtualized network environment and comprising permission for an execution of a serverless function to access the logical network connector (Claim 1: obtain a request to create a logical network connector enabling communication between executions of a serverless function and the user virtualized network environment, wherein the request specifies permissions permitting executions of the serverless function to access the logical network connector and permitting the logical network connector to join the user virtualized network environment), and wherein initializing the logical network connector comprises configuring a substrate physical network to route traffic from within the user virtualized network environment to within a second virtualized network environment (Claim 1: initialize the logical network connector, wherein initializing the logical network connector comprises generating a first endpoint within the user virtualized network environment and a second endpoint within a second virtualized network environment corresponding to the serverless computing system and configuring a substrate physical network to route traffic between the first and second endpoints); access a network communication from an execution environment, within the second virtualized network environment, executing the serverless function (Claim 1: initiate an execution of user-defined code representing the serverless function in an execution environment within the second virtualized network environment; obtain a network communication from the execution of the user-defined code at the first endpoint represented by the connector); and route the network communication to the user virtualized network environment subject to the user-specified permissions to create the logical network connector (Claim 1: and route the network communication to the user virtualized network environment subject to the permissions of the request to create the logical network connector.). As to claim 2 , the ‘877 Patent discloses the cloud provider system of Claim 1, wherein, to initialize the logical network connector, the serverless computing system is further configured to attach a virtualized network interface to the execution environment (Claim 6: The method of claim 5, wherein the first endpoint corresponds to a virtualized network interface, and wherein initializing the logical network connector further comprises attaching the virtualized network interface to the execution environment.). As to claim 3 , the ‘877 Patent discloses the cloud provider system of Claim 1, wherein to route the network communication, the serverless computing system is further configured to apply network address translation (NAT) to the network communication to translate between an address space of the second virtualized network environment and an address space of the user virtualized network environment (Claim 7: The method of claim 5, wherein routing the network communication to the user virtualized network environment subject comprises applying network address translation (NAT) to the network communication to translate between an address space of the second virtualized network environment and an address space of the user virtualized network environment.). As to claim 4 , the ‘877 Patent discloses the cloud provider system of Claim 1, wherein the serverless computing system is further configured to: access a second network communication from the user virtualized network environment responsive to the network communication; and route the second network communication to a second user virtualized network environment subject to the user-specified permissions (Claim 8: The method of claim 5 further comprising: obtaining, at the second endpoint, a second network communication from the user virtualized network environment responsive to the network communication; and routing the second network communication to second virtualized network environment subject to the permissions of the request to create the logical network connector). As to claim 5 , the ‘877 Patent discloses the cloud provider system of Claim 1, wherein the serverless computing system is configured to obtain an invocation of the serverless function (Claim 1: obtain invocation of the serverless function), and wherein initialization of the logical network connector is responsive to the invocation of the serverless function (Claim 9: The method of claim 5, wherein initializing the logical network connector is responsive to invocation of the serverless function). As to claim 6 , the ‘877 Patent discloses the cloud provider system of Claim 1, wherein the serverless computing system is configured to obtain a user request to initialize the logical network connector, and wherein initialization of the logical network connector is responsive to the user request to initialize the logical network connector (Claim10: The method of claim 5, wherein initializing the logical network connector is responsive to a user request to initialize the logical network connector.”). As to claim 7 , the ‘877 Patent discloses the cloud provider system of Claim 1, wherein the serverless computing system is further configured to: access a request to create a logical network connector enabling communication between executions of the serverless function and the user virtualized network environment, wherein the request specifies permissions permitting executions of the serverless function to access the logical network connector and permitting the logical network connector to join the user virtualized network environment (Claim 5: obtaining a request to create a logical network connector enabling communication between executions of a serverless function and the user virtualized network environment, wherein the request specifies permissions permitting executions of the serverless function to access the logical network connector and permitting the logical network connector to join the user virtualized network environment), and wherein the initialization of the logical network connector is responsive to the request (Claim 9: The method of claim 5, wherein initializing the logical network connector is responsive to invocation of the serverless function). As to claim 8 , the ‘877 Patent discloses the cloud provider system of Claim 7, wherein the request to create the logical network connector specifies throttling to be applied to traffic traversing the logical network connector, and wherein the serverless computing system is configured to route the network communication to the user virtualized network environment subject to the throttling (Claim 11: The method of claim 5, wherein the request to create the logical network connector specifies throttling to be applied to traffic traversing the logical network connector, and wherein routing the network communication to the user virtualized network environment comprises routing the network communication to the user virtualized network environment subject to the throttling). As to claim 9 , the ‘877 Patent discloses the cloud provider system of Claim 1, wherein, to initialize the logical network connector, the serverless computing system is further configured to: generate a first endpoint pair comprising a first endpoint within the user virtualized network environment and a second endpoint within a second virtualized network environment corresponding to the serverless computing system; detect that traffic at the first endpoint pair satisfies a scaling threshold; generate a second endpoint pair including an additional endpoint within the user virtualized network environment and an additional endpoint within the second virtualized network environment corresponding to the serverless computing system; and configure the substrate physical network to route traffic between the additional endpoints of the second endpoint pair (Claim 12: The method of claim 5, wherein the first and second endpoint correspond to a first endpoint pair, and wherein the method further comprises: detecting that traffic at the first endpoint pair satisfies a scaling threshold; generating a second endpoint pair including an additional endpoint within the user virtualized network environment and an additional endpoint within the second virtualized network environment corresponding to the serverless computing system; and configuring the substrate physical network to route traffic is between the additional endpoints of the second endpoint pair). Claims 10-18 recite a method commensurate in scope to the system of claims 1-9 and are thus rejected under a substantially similar rationale. Claims 19-20 recite a method commensurate in scope to the system of claims 1 and 7, and are thus rejected under a substantially similar rationale. Prior Art 07-96 AIA The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2019/0007458 by Shulman et al. discloses securing serverless functions U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2020/0021591 by Hecht discloses cloud based serverless functions U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2020/0241999 by Guim Bernat et al. discloses virtualized serverless functions U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2021/0200527 by Sanchez et al . discloses cloud based serverless functions U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2021/0329003 by Segal et al. discloses cloud based serverless functions Conclusion Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MICHAEL S MCNALLY whose telephone number is (571)270-1599. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday, 8:30 AM - 5:00 PM. 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, Jeffrey L Nickerson can be reached at (469)295-9235. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000. MICHAEL S. MCNALLY Primary Examiner Art Unit 2432 /Michael S McNally/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2432 Application/Control Number: 19/067,365 Page 2 Art Unit: 2432 Application/Control Number: 19/067,365 Page 3 Art Unit: 2432 Application/Control Number: 19/067,365 Page 4 Art Unit: 2432 Application/Control Number: 19/067,365 Page 5 Art Unit: 2432 Application/Control Number: 19/067,365 Page 6 Art Unit: 2432 Application/Control Number: 19/067,365 Page 7 Art Unit: 2432 Application/Control Number: 19/067,365 Page 8 Art Unit: 2432 Application/Control Number: 19/067,365 Page 9 Art Unit: 2432 Application/Control Number: 19/067,365 Page 10 Art Unit: 2432 Application/Control Number: 19/067,365 Page 11 Art Unit: 2432
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