DETAILED ACTION
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 .
Applicant’s filing dated March 20, 2025, has been received and made of record.
Application 19/085,948 is a continuation of Application 18/148,938, filed December 30, 2022.
Claims 1-20 are currently pending in Application 19/085,948.
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 1-20 are rejected on the ground of nonstatutory double patenting as being unpatentable over claims 1-20 of U.S. Patent No. 12,282,409 B2. Although the claims at issue are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other because the patent claims anticipate the pending application claims; that is, the patent claims recite all of the limitations of the pending application claims with the differences amounting to a matter of drafting choice. See also the table below.
Patent US 12,282,409 B2
Instant Application 19/058,948
1. A network management system in communication with a plurality of network devices, the network management system comprising: a memory; and processing circuitry in communication with the memory and configured to: obtain third-party data of one or more third-party application servers or third-party service provider servers from one or more third-party monitoring vendors, the one or more third-party application servers or third-party service provider servers being outside of a network managed by the network management system; identify a user experience issue indicated by the third-party data, the user experience issue occurring outside of the network managed by the network management system; stitch the third-party data indicative of the user experience issue to network data obtained for one or more network devices of the plurality of network devices; determine, based at least on the stitched network data, at least one of: a root cause of the user experience issue, the root cause occurring outside of the network managed by the network management system; or a remedial action to perform within the network managed by the network management system to remediate the user experience issue occurring outside of the network managed by the network management system; and generate a notification to an administrator device, the notification identifying the at least one of the root cause or the remedial action.
2. The network management system of claim 1, wherein to obtain the third-party data, the processing circuitry is configured to: receive a request for troubleshooting of the user experience issue; and in response to the request for troubleshooting of the user experience issue, query the one or more third-party monitoring vendors via one or more application programming interfaces (APIs) for the third-party data of the one or more third-party application servers or third-party service provider servers.
3. The network management system of claim 1, wherein to obtain the third-party data, the processing circuitry is configured to periodically query the one or more third-party monitoring vendors via one or more application programming interfaces (APIs) for the third-party data of the one or more third-party application servers or third-party service provider servers.
4. The network management system of claim 1, wherein to obtain the third-party data, the processing circuitry is configured to query the one or more third-party monitoring vendors via one or more application programming interfaces (APIs) for third-party data of a particular third-party application server of the one or more third-party application servers or third-party service provider servers during an application session between a client device and the particular third-party application server, and wherein the third-party data comprises data associated with a behavior of the client device during the application session.
5. The network management system of claim 1, wherein to obtain the third-party data, the processing circuitry is configured to query the one or more third-party monitoring vendors via one or more application programming interfaces (APIs) for third-party data of a particular third-party application server of the one or more third-party application servers or third-party service provider servers after an application session between a client device and the particular third-party application server, wherein the third-party data comprises user quality of service (QoS) data in the form of low-level application details.
6. The network management system of claim 1, wherein to obtain the third-party data, the processing circuitry is configured to query the one or more third-party monitoring vendors via one or more application programming interfaces (APIs) for the third-party data of a particular third-party application server of the one or more third-party application servers or third-party service provider servers after an application session between a client device and the particular third-party application server, and wherein the third-party data comprises user feedback data on the application session.
7. The network management system of claim 1, wherein the third-party data comprises insights data of one or more of a service provider network of an Internet Service Provider (ISP), a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) application service, or a custom application hosted in a datacenter of the one or more third-party monitoring vendors.
8. The network management system of claim 1, wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to obtain the network data from the one or more network devices of the plurality of network devices.
9. The network management system of claim 1, wherein the processing circuitry is configured to determine the at least one of the root cause or the remedial action of the user experience issue based at least on the network data obtained for the one or more network devices and the third-party data indicative of the user experience issue.
10. The network management system of claim 1, wherein to obtain the third-party data, the processing circuitry is configured to query the one or more third-party monitoring vendors via one or more application programming interfaces (APIs) for third-party data of a particular third-party application server of the one or more third-party application servers or third-party service provider servers during an application session between a client device and the particular third-party application server, wherein the processing circuitry is configured to determine the root cause of the user experience issue based at least on the network data obtained for the one or more network devices, and wherein the root cause is due to a problem with at least one of the client device or the particular third-party application server.
11. A method comprising: obtaining, by a network management system in communication with a plurality of network devices, third-party data of one or more third-party application servers or third-party service provider servers from one or more third-party monitoring vendors, the one or more third-party application servers or third-party service provider servers being outside of a network managed by the network management system; identifying, by the network management system, a user experience issue indicated by the third-party data, the user experience issue occurring outside of the network managed by the network management system; stitching, by the network management system, the third-party data indicative of the user experience issue to network data obtained for one or more network devices of the plurality of network devices; determining, by the network management system and based at least on the stitched network data, at least one of: a root cause of the user experience issue, the root cause occurring outside of the network managed by the network management system; or a remedial action to perform within the network managed by the network management system to remediate the user experience issue occurring outside of the network managed by the network management system; and generating, by the network management system, a notification to an administrator device, the notification identifying the at least one of the root cause or the remedial action.
12. The method of claim 11, wherein obtaining the third-party data comprises: receiving a request for troubleshooting of the user experience issue; and in response to the request for troubleshooting of the user experience issue, querying the one or more third-party monitoring vendors via one or more application programming interfaces (APIs) for the third-party data of the one or more third-party application servers or third-party service provider servers.
13. The method of claim 11, wherein obtaining the third-party data comprises periodically querying the one or more third-party monitoring vendors via one or more application programming interfaces (APIs) for the third-party data of the one or more third-party application servers or third-party service provider servers.
14. The method of claim 11, wherein obtaining the third-party data comprises querying the one or more third-party monitoring vendors via one or more application programming interfaces (APIs) for third-party data of a particular third-party application server of the one or more third-party application servers or third-party service provider servers during an application session between a client device and the particular third-party application server, and wherein the third-party data comprises data associated with a behavior of the client device during the application session.
15. The method of claim 11, wherein obtaining the third-party data comprises querying the one or more third-party monitoring vendors via one or more application programming interfaces (APIs) for third-party data of a particular third-party application server of the one or more third-party application servers or third-party service provider servers after an application session between a client device and the particular third-party application server, wherein the third-party data comprises user quality of service (QoS) data in the form of low-level application details.
16. The method of claim 11, wherein obtaining the third-party data comprises querying the one or more third-party monitoring vendors via one or more application programming interfaces (APIs) for the third-party data of a particular third-party application server of the one or more third-party application servers or third-party service provider servers after an application session between a client device and the particular third-party application server, and wherein the third-party data comprises user feedback data on the application session.
17. The method of claim 11, wherein the third-party data comprises insights data of one or more of a service provider network of an Internet Service Provider (ISP), a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) application service, or a custom application hosted in a datacenter of the one or more third-party monitoring vendors.
18. The method of claim 11, further comprising obtaining the network data received from the one or more network devices of the plurality of network devices.
19. The method of claim 11, wherein determining the at least one of the root cause or the remedial action of the user experience issue is based at least on the network data obtained for the one or more network devices and the third-party data indicative of the user experience issue.
20. A non-transitory, computer-readable medium comprising instructions that, when executed, are configured to cause processing circuitry of a network management system in communication with a plurality of network devices to: obtain third-party data of one or more third-party application servers or third-party service provider servers from one or more third-party monitoring vendors, the one or more third-party application servers or third-party service provider servers being outside of a network managed by the network management system; identify a user experience issue indicated by the third-party data, the user experience issue occurring outside of the network managed by the network management system; stitch the third-party data indicative of the user experience issue to network data obtained for one or more network devices of the plurality of network devices; determine, based at least on the stitched network data, at least one of: a root cause of the user experience issue, the root cause occurring outside of the network managed by the network management system; or a remedial action to perform within the network managed by the network management system to remediate the user experience issue occurring outside of the network managed by the network management system; and generate a notification to an administrator device, the notification identifying the at least one of the root cause or the remedial action.
1. A network management system comprising: a memory; and processing circuitry in communication with the memory and configured to: obtain data regarding an application or service provided by a server outside of a network managed by the network management system; determine that the data is indicative of a user experience issue occurring outside of the network managed by the network management system; combine the data regarding the application or service with network data obtained for one or more network devices within the network; determine, based at least on the combined data and network data, at least one of: a root cause of the user experience issue, the root cause occurring outside of the network; or a remedial action to perform within the network to remediate the user experience issue occurring outside of the network; and generate a notification indicating the at least one of the root cause or the remedial action.
2. The network management system of claim 1, wherein to obtain the data, the processing circuitry is configured to: receive a request for troubleshooting of the user experience issue; and in response to the request for troubleshooting of the user experience issue, obtain, via an application programming interface (API) query, the data regarding the application or service.
3. The network management system of claim 1, wherein to obtain the data, the processing circuitry is configured to periodically generate an application programming interface (API) query for the data regarding the application or service.
4. The network management system of claim 1, wherein to obtain the data, the processing circuitry is configured to obtain, via an application programming interface (API) query, data regarding an instance of the application or service provided by the server outside of the network managed by the network management system during an application session between a client device within the network managed by the network management system and the instance of the application or service provided by the server.
5. The network management system of claim 1, wherein to obtain the data, the processing circuitry is configured to obtain, via an application programming interface (API) query, data regarding an instance of the application or service provided by the server outside of the network managed by the network management system after an application session between a client device within the network managed by the network management system and the instance of the application or service provided by the server.
6. The network management system of claim 1, wherein the data comprises at least one of: data associated with a behavior of a client device within the network managed by the network management system during an application session between the client device and an instance of the application or service provided by the server outside of the network managed by the network management system; user quality of service (QoS) data associated with the application session in the form of low-level application details; user feedback data for the application session; or insights data of one or more of a service provider network of an Internet Service Provider (ISP), a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) application service, or a custom application hosted in a datacenter outside of the network managed by the network management system.
7. The network management system of claim 1, wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to obtain the network data from the one or more network devices within the network.
8. The network management system of claim 1, wherein the processing circuitry is configured to perform the remedial action within the network to remediate the user experience issue occurring outside of the network.
9. The network management system of claim 8, wherein, to perform the remedial action, the processing circuitry is configured to: configure the one or more network devices to select a different interface for forwarding network traffic for the application or service; or configure the one or more network devices to forward network traffic for the application or service to a different service provider network for forwarding to the server.
10. The network management system of claim 1, wherein the processing circuitry is configured to output, for display by a display device, the notification, wherein the notification indicates the root cause of the user experience issue occurring outside of the network.
11. A method comprising: obtaining, by a network management system executed by processing circuitry, data regarding an application or service provided by a server outside of a network managed by the network management system; determining, by the network management system, that the data is indicative of a user experience issue occurring outside of the network managed by the network management system; combining, by the network management system, the data regarding the application or service with network data obtained for one or more network devices within the network; determining, by the network management system, based at least on the combined data and network data, at least one of: a root cause of the user experience issue, the root cause occurring outside of the network; or a remedial action to perform within the network to remediate the user experience issue occurring outside of the network; and generating, by the network management system, a notification indicating the at least one of the root cause or the remedial action.
12. The method of claim 11, wherein obtaining the data comprises: receiving a request for troubleshooting of the user experience issue; and in response to the request for troubleshooting of the user experience issue, obtaining, via an application programming interface (API) query, the data regarding the application or service.
13. The method of claim 11, wherein obtaining the data comprises periodically generating an application programming interface (API) query for the data regarding the application or service.
14. The method of claim 11, wherein obtaining the data comprises obtaining, via an application programming interface (API) query, data regarding an instance of the application or service provided by the server outside of the network managed by the network management system during an application session between a client device within the network managed by the network management system and the instance of the application or service provided by the server.
15. The method of claim 11, wherein obtaining the data comprises obtaining, via an application programming interface (API) query, data regarding an instance of the application or service provided by the server outside of the network managed by the network management system after an application session between a client device within the network managed by the network management system and the instance of the application or service provided by the server.
16. The method of claim 11, further comprising obtaining, by the network management system, the network data from the one or more network devices within the network.
17. The method of claim 11, further comprising performing, by the network management system, the remedial action within the network to remediate the user experience issue occurring outside of the network.
18. The network management system of claim 17, wherein performing the remedial action comprises: configuring the one or more network devices to select a different interface for forwarding network traffic for the application or service; or configuring the one or more network devices to forward network traffic for the application or service to a different service provider network for forwarding to the server.
19. The method of claim 11, further comprising outputting, by the network management system and for display by a display device, the notification, wherein the notification indicates the root cause of the user experience issue occurring outside of the network.
20. Non-transitory, computer-readable media comprising instructions that, when executed, are configured to cause processing circuitry to: obtain data regarding an application or service provided by a server outside of a network managed by the network management system; determine that the data is indicative of a user experience issue occurring outside of the network managed by the network management system; combine the data regarding the application or service with network data obtained for one or more network devices within the network; determine, based at least on the combined data and network data, at least one of: a root cause of the user experience issue, the root cause occurring outside of the network; or a remedial action to perform within the network to remediate the user experience issue occurring outside of the network; and generate a notification indicating the at least one of the root cause or the remedial action.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) 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.
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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claim(s) 1-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Clemens (US 2011/0141913 A1) in view of Bhat (US 2020/0204452 A1).
Regarding claims 1, 11, and 20, Clemens discloses A network management system (Clemens: Claim 13, “A system for managing a network…”)/method (Clemens: Claim 1, “A computer-implemented method for managing a network…”)/non-transitory, computer-readable media comprising instructions, that when executed are configured to cause processing circuitry to (Clemens: Claim 20, “A computer-readable medium…”)/comprising:
a memory (Clemens: Claim 13, “a memory…”);
and processing circuitry in communication with the memory (Clemens: Claim 13, “a memory… instructions being executable by a processor…”) and configured to:
obtain data (Clemens: Paragraph [0079], “the NMS 202 monitors customer transactions to identify any problems or issues. In some embodiments, the NMS 202 executes a CTMM 324 or another program module to monitor customer transactions. As explained above, the NMS 202 is configured to monitor extremely complex transactions that occur on and/or involve not only the network 100, but also, in some cases, external networks and/or third party devices. Thus, the NMS 202 is able to see how external providers are providing services at any particular time”);
determine that the data is indicative of a user experience issue occurring outside of the network managed by the network management system (Clemens: Paragraph [0079], “NMS 202 monitors customer transactions to identify any problems or issues… By monitoring these transactions, the NMS 202 can identify network problems, either at the network 100 and/or at an external network or device. If the NMS 202 identifies any problems during the monitored transactions, the NMS 202 may flag the network element, the external device, the conducted transaction and/or the external network involved, and may create an alarm or alert to prompt a network element or user to take corrective action”);
combine the data regarding the application or service with network data obtained for one or more network devices within the network (Clemens: Paragraph [0079], “the NMS 202 is configured to monitor extremely complex transactions that occur on and/or involve not only the network 100, but also, in some cases, external networks and/or third party devices. Thus, the NMS 202 is able to see how external providers are providing services at any particular time. By monitoring these transactions, the NMS 202 can identify network problems, either at the network 100 and/or at an external network or device”);
determine, based at least on the combined data and network data, at least one of:
a root cause of the user experience issue, the root cause occurring outside of the network (Clemens: Paragraph [0081], “the NMS 202 identifies an error in the network 100, as described above with reference to the method 500 illustrated in FIG. 5. The method 600 then proceeds to operation 604, wherein the NMS 202 determines if the NMS 202 is authorized to auto-correct the error identified at operation 602”);
or a remedial action to perform within the network to remediate the user experience issue occurring outside of the network (Clemens: Paragraph [0081], “the NMS 202 identifies an error in the network 100, as described above with reference to the method 500 illustrated in FIG. 5. The method 600 then proceeds to operation 604, wherein the NMS 202 determines if the NMS 202 is authorized to auto-correct the error identified at operation 602”);
and generate a notification indicating the at least one of the root cause or the remedial action (Clemens: Paragraph [0079], “the NMS 202 monitors customer transactions to identify any problems or issues. In some embodiments, the NMS 202 executes a CTMM 324 or another program module to monitor customer transactions. As explained above, the NMS 202 is configured to monitor extremely complex transactions that occur on and/or involve not only the network 100, but also, in some cases, external networks and/or third party devices. Thus, the NMS 202 is able to see how external providers are providing services at any particular time. By monitoring these transactions, the NMS 202 can identify network problems, either at the network 100 and/or at an external network or device. If the NMS 202 identifies any problems during the monitored transactions, the NMS 202 may flag the network element, the external device, the conducted transaction and/or the external network involved, and may create an alarm or alert to prompt a network element or user to take corrective action”).
Clemens does not explicitly disclose that the data is regarding an application or service provided by a server.
However, Bhat teaches this feature (Bhat: Paragraphs [0010], “a networking environment can include one or more vendor applications, one or more virtualized network services, one or more physical network services, and/or the like deployed to enable operations at one or more locations connected using the multiple networking environments and supported by multiple vendors”, [0015], “service management platform 102 can monitor uCPEs 122 and 126 (and multiple virtualized network functions thereof), gateway devices 128, vCPE 130, service management platform 102 (e.g., using a self-monitoring functionality), and/or the like to detect an issue, such as a connectivity failure”, and [0018], “diagnostics and troubleshooting service 140 can communicate with different vendor provided devices using different vendor APIs 156. For example, diagnostics and troubleshooting service 140 can use vendor APIs 156 to communicate with dedicated hardware devices, white-box uCPEs, service chains, cloud based virtualized customer premises equipment (vCPE), and/or the like”).
Clemens and Bhat are analogous art in the same field of endeavor as the instant invention as all are drawn to network management. 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; that is, it would have been obvious to incorporate Bhat’s third-party vendor API support into the system of Clemens to allow for greater coverage of issues and services.
Clemens-Bhat teaches 2/12. The network management system of claim 1/method of claim 11, wherein to obtain the data, the processing circuitry is configured to:
receive a request for troubleshooting of the user experience issue (Bhat: Paragraph [0019], “diagnostics and troubleshooting service 140 can provide end-user API 154 to enable an end-user (e.g., of client device 104) to control diagnostics and troubleshooting service 140 and one or more vendor-specific resources and/or services without requiring end-user knowledge of the one or more vendor APIs 156”);
and in response to the request for troubleshooting of the user experience issue, obtain, via an application programming interface (API) query, the data regarding the application or service (Bhat: Paragraph [0018], “diagnostics and troubleshooting service 140 can communicate with different vendor provided devices using different vendor APIs 156. For example, diagnostics and troubleshooting service 140 can use vendor APIs 156 to communicate with dedicated hardware devices, white-box uCPEs, service chains, cloud based virtualized customer premises equipment (vCPE), and/or the like”).
Clemens-Bhat teaches 3/13. The network management system of claim 1/method of claim 11, wherein to obtain the data, the processing circuitry is configured to periodically generate an application programming interface (API) query for the data regarding the application or service (Bhat: Paragraphs [0018], “diagnostics and troubleshooting service 140 can communicate with different vendor provided devices using different vendor APIs 156. For example, diagnostics and troubleshooting service 140 can use vendor APIs 156 to communicate with dedicated hardware devices, white-box uCPEs, service chains, cloud based virtualized customer premises equipment (vCPE), and/or the like”, and [0027], “service management platform 102 can automatically obtain information associated with detecting an issue (e.g., based on periodic queries, based on event triggers, and/or the like)”).
Clemens-Bhat teaches 4/14. The network management system of claim 1/method of claim 11, wherein to obtain the data, the processing circuitry is configured to obtain, via an application programming interface (API) query, data regarding an instance of the application or service provided by the server outside of the network managed by the network management system during an application session between a client device within the network managed by the network management system and the instance of the application or service provided by the server (Bhat: Paragraphs [0019], “diagnostics and troubleshooting service 140 can provide end-user API 154 to enable an end-user (e.g., of client device 104) to control diagnostics and troubleshooting service 140 and one or more vendor-specific resources and/or services without requiring end-user knowledge of the one or more vendor APIs 156”, and [0020], “device health test component 142 can receive, via end-user API 154, a request to perform a diagnostic test, and can use a vendor API 156 to perform the diagnostic test on a service, such as a vendor application, a virtualized network service, a physical network service, and/or the like. In some implementations, device health test component 142 can perform a diagnostic test when a new service is ordered for provisioning. For example, based on a customer requesting a new virtualized network service, and service management platform 102 provisioning the new virtualized network service, device health test component 142 can perform one or more diagnostic tests to determine whether the new virtualized network service is operating without issues. Additionally, or alternatively, when an issue is detected for a virtualized network service (e.g., based on receiving a trouble ticket, determining a failure of a diagnostic test, and/or the like), device health test component 142 can perform a set of diagnostic tests to determine a status of the virtualized network service, and determine a resolution for the issue”).
Clemens-Bhat teaches 5/15. The network management system of claim 1/method of claim 11, wherein to obtain the data, the processing circuitry is configured to obtain, via an application programming interface (API) query, data regarding an instance of the application or service provided by the server outside of the network managed by the network management system after an application session between a client device within the network managed by the network management system and the instance of the application or service provided by the server (Bhat: Paragraphs [0019], “diagnostics and troubleshooting service 140 can provide end-user API 154 to enable an end-user (e.g., of client device 104) to control diagnostics and troubleshooting service 140 and one or more vendor-specific resources and/or services without requiring end-user knowledge of the one or more vendor APIs 156”, and [0020], “device health test component 142 can receive, via end-user API 154, a request to perform a diagnostic test, and can use a vendor API 156 to perform the diagnostic test on a service, such as a vendor application, a virtualized network service, a physical network service, and/or the like. In some implementations, device health test component 142 can perform a diagnostic test when a new service is ordered for provisioning. For example, based on a customer requesting a new virtualized network service, and service management platform 102 provisioning the new virtualized network service, device health test component 142 can perform one or more diagnostic tests to determine whether the new virtualized network service is operating without issues. Additionally, or alternatively, when an issue is detected for a virtualized network service (e.g., based on receiving a trouble ticket, determining a failure of a diagnostic test, and/or the like), device health test component 142 can perform a set of diagnostic tests to determine a status of the virtualized network service, and determine a resolution for the issue”).
Clemens-Bhat teaches 6. The network management system of claim 1, wherein the data comprises at least one of:
data associated with a behavior of a client device within the network managed by the network management system during an application session between the client device and an instance of the application or service provided by the server outside of the network managed by the network management system (Clemens: Paragraph [0079], “the NMS 202 monitors customer transactions to identify any problems or issues. In some embodiments, the NMS 202 executes a CTMM 324 or another program module to monitor customer transactions. As explained above, the NMS 202 is configured to monitor extremely complex transactions that occur on and/or involve not only the network 100, but also, in some cases, external networks and/or third party devices. Thus, the NMS 202 is able to see how external providers are providing services at any particular time”; Bhat: Paragraph [0009], “service management platform 102 can act as an orchestration device that performs end-to-end diagnostic testing and remediation of issues for multiple different virtualized network services”);
user quality of service (QoS) data associated with the application session in the form of low-level application details;
user feedback data for the application session (Bhat: Paragraph [0019], “diagnostics and troubleshooting service 140 can provide end-user API 154 to enable an end-user (e.g., of client device 104) to control diagnostics and troubleshooting service 140 and one or more vendor-specific resources and/or services without requiring end-user knowledge of the one or more vendor APIs 156”);
or insights data of one or more of a service provider network of an Internet Service Provider (ISP), a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) application service, or a custom application hosted in a datacenter outside of the network managed by the network management system.
Clemens-Bhat teaches 7/16. The network management system of claim 1/method of claim 11, wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to obtain the network data from the one or more network devices within the network (Clemens: Paragraph [0079], “the NMS 202 is configured to monitor extremely complex transactions that occur on and/or involve not only the network 100, but also, in some cases, external networks and/or third party devices. Thus, the NMS 202 is able to see how external providers are providing services at any particular time. By monitoring these transactions, the NMS 202 can identify network problems, either at the network 100 and/or at an external network or device”).
Clemens-Bhat teaches 8/17. The network management system of claim 1/method of claim 11, wherein the processing circuitry is configured to perform the remedial action within the network to remediate the user experience issue occurring outside of the network (Clemens: Paragraph [0081], “the NMS 202 identifies an error in the network 100, as described above with reference to the method 500 illustrated in FIG. 5. The method 600 then proceeds to operation 604, wherein the NMS 202 determines if the NMS 202 is authorized to auto-correct the error identified at operation 602”).
Clemens-Bhat teaches 9/18. The network management system of claim 8/method of claim 17.
Clemens-Bhat does not explicitly disclose that to perform the remedial action, the processing circuitry is configured to:
configure the one or more network devices to select a different interface for forwarding network traffic for the application or service;
or configure the one or more network devices to forward network traffic for the application or service to a different service provider network for forwarding to the server.
However, Examiner takes Official Notice that it was well-known prior to the effective filing date of the invention to reconfigure a network device to use an alternative network interface or forwarding path to resolve a network error or failure.
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the invention to incorporate such a feature in the system of Clemens-Bhat as doing so would allow for automatic remediation of common network issues, as envisioned by Clemens.
Clemens-Bhat teaches 10/19. The network management system of claim 1/method of claim 11, wherein the processing circuitry is configured to output, for display by a display device, the notification, wherein the notification indicates the root cause of the user experience issue occurring outside of the network (Clemens: Paragraph [0079], “NMS 202 monitors customer transactions to identify any problems or issues… By monitoring these transactions, the NMS 202 can identify network problems, either at the network 100 and/or at an external network or device. If the NMS 202 identifies any problems during the monitored transactions, the NMS 202 may flag the network element, the external device, the conducted transaction and/or the external network involved, and may create an alarm or alert to prompt a network element or user to take corrective action”; it is understood that the user alarm or alert would normally involve displaying output on a display device to the user).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Lamborne (US 2023/0412452 A1) describes a system for detecting and remediating network anomalies by monitoring external networks.
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/IMAD HUSSAIN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2453
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