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 .
Application # 19/102,027 was filed on 2/7/2025.
Claims 1-20 are subject to examination.
An IDS filed on 2/7/2025 has been fully considered and entered by the Examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claim(s) 1-8, 14-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Aronovich et al. U.S. Patent # 2018/0246745 (hereinafter Aronovich) in view of Castro de Rosa et al. U.S. Patent Publication # 2023/0247055 (hereinafter Castro)
With respect to claim 1, Aronovich teaches a method performed by a computer system for use in controlling user plane network traffic in a cloud environment, the method comprising:
deploying a temporary container in an executing container group (i.e. starting temporary container having an equivalent application) (Paragraph 89), the executing container group including an application container (i.e. application container) executing a packet- processing application (i.e. application)(Paragraph 89, 91), wherein the temporary container includes a network traffic control software (i.e. equivalent application template or container template) that includes a pre-compiled network traffic control program and configuration information (i.e. relevant information is additionally extracted from the host associated with the application and aggregated information is calculated based on extracted relevant information from the temporary container and from host and then injected into the working container) (Paragraph 91), wherein the temporary container, when deployed, executes a client component (Paragraph 85, 89, 91)that is operable to:
and transfer the network traffic control software to the packet-processing application using the connection (Paragraph 85, 89, 91), wherein the pre-compiled network traffic control program, when executed in the packet- processing application, is operable to control network traffic associated with the packet-processing application (Paragraph 87-89, 91)
Aronovich implicitly shows that having connection (Paragraph 70-71, 89, 91) but does not explicitly state establish a secure connection to a server component of the packet- processing application.
Castro teaches establish a secure connection to a server component of the packet- processing application (Paragraph 41, 58) transfer the network traffic control software to the packet-processing application using the secure connection (Paragraph 58-59), wherein the pre-compiled network traffic control program, when executed in the packet- processing application, is operable to control network traffic associated with the packet-processing application (Paragraph 58-62). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to implement Castro’s teaching in Aronovich’s teaching to come up with having secure connection to a server component of the packet-processing application. The motivation for doing so would be to provide data security processing and using encryption for variety of security processes.
With respect to claim 2, Aronovich and Castro teaches the method of claim 1, but Castro further teaches wherein the pre-compiled network traffic control program is operable to control network traffic associated with the packet- processing application by blocking network traffic, redirecting network traffic (i.e. forwarding the processed traffic to the designated recipients) and/or in other ways modifying the network traffic or its associated metadata (Paragraph 44)
With respect to claim 3, Aronovich and Castro teaches the method of claim 2, but Aronovich further teaches wherein the pre-compiled network traffic control program, when executed in the packet-processing application, is further operable to generate information regarding the network traffic that was controlled, wherein the information regarding the network traffic that was controlled includes one or more of: traffic counters and log messages (i.e. metering & storing including resource usage, active user accounts including resource consumptions) (Paragraph 34, 61)
With respect to claim 4, Aronovich and Castro teaches the method of claim 2, but Aronovich further teaches wherein the pre-compiled network traffic control program, when executed in the packet-processing application, is further operable to cause the information regarding the network traffic that was controlled to be encrypted or obfuscated and provide the encrypted or obfuscated information to a data pipeline (Paragraph 12, 13, 34, 41, 49)
With respect to claim 5, Aronovich and Castro teaches the method of claim 4, but Aronovich further teaches wherein the data pipeline is operable to provide the encrypted or obfuscated information to an application that is operable to decrypt or de-obfuscate the encrypted or obfuscated information and provide the decrypted or de-obfuscated information to a user (Paragraph 12, 35)
With respect to claim 6, Aronovich and Castro teaches the method of claim 1, but Aronovich further teaches wherein the temporary container is derived from a digitally signed image, wherein the digitally signed image is verified by a container orchestration system before the temporary container is deployed (Paragraph 89)
With respect to claim 7, Aronovich and Castro teaches the method of claim 1, but Castro further teaches wherein the secure connection is an encrypted connection through a loopback interface (Paragraph 41, 58)
With respect to claim 8, Aronovich and Castro teaches the method of claim 1, but Aronovich further teaches wherein the pre-compiled network traffic control program is verified by a verifier component of a packet-processing framework before the pre-compiled network traffic control program is attached to the packet- processing application (Paragraph 88, 89, 91)
With respect to claims 14-20 respectively, they recite similar limitations as claims 1-7 respectively, therefore rejected under same basis.
Claim(s) 9-10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Aronovich et al. U.S. Patent # 2018/0246745 (hereinafter Aronovich) in view of Castro de Rosa et al. U.S. Patent Publication # 2023/0247055 (hereinafter Castro) further in view of Carmichael et al. U.S. Patent Publication # 2010/0217936 (hereinafter Carmichael)
With respect to claim 9, Aronovich and Castro teaches the method of claim 1, but fails to further teaches wherein the server component of the packet-processing application is operable to configure an access control list (ACL) for the pre-compiled network traffic control program, wherein the ACL is used to determine which functions the pre-compiled network traffic control program is allowed to access.
Carmichael teaches wherein the server component of the packet-processing application is operable to configure an access control list (ACL) for the pre-compiled network traffic control program, wherein the ACL is used to determine which functions the pre-compiled network traffic control program is allowed to access (Paragraph 42, 44, 47, 55). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to implement Carmichael’s teaching in Aronovich and Castro’s teaching to come up with having an ACL for the pre-compiled traffic to determine which functions the traffic program is allowed to access. The motivation for doing so would be to perform packet blocking wherein the processing engine may initiate and/or perform permitting or denying packets.
With respect to claim 10, Aronovich, Castro teaches the method of claim 9, but Carmichael further teaches wherein a packet-processing framework has a mechanism to determine whether functions calls made by the pre-compiled network traffic control program are allowable based on the ACL (Paragraph 59-62)
Claim(s) 11-13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Aronovich et al. U.S. Patent # 2018/0246745 (hereinafter Aronovich) in view of Castro de Rosa et al. U.S. Patent Publication # 2023/0247055 (hereinafter Castro) further in view of Dasgupta et al. U.S. Patent Publication # 2023/0418775 (hereinafter Dasgupta)
With respect to claim 11, Aronovich and Castro teaches the method of claim 1, but does not explicitly further teaches wherein the packet-processing application implements functionality of a cloud radio access network (RAN) component.
Dasgupta teaches wherein the packet-processing application implements functionality of a cloud radio access network (RAN) component (Paragraph 6, 23, 28). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to implement Dasgupta’s teaching in Aronovich and Castro’s teaching to come up with having packet-processing application implements functionality of a cloud radio access network component. The motivation for doing so would be to provide wireless data transfers in secure and efficient deployment of network functions using 4G & 5G RAN.
With respect to claim 12, Aronovich, Castro and Dasgupta teaches the method of claim 11, but Dasgupta further teaches wherein a RAN automation and/or optimization application is operable to generate a network traffic control program and compile the network traffic control program to generate the pre-compiled network traffic control program (Paragraph 45-47)
With respect to claim 13, Aronovich, Castro and Dasgupta teaches the method of claim 12, but Castro further teaches wherein the RAN automation and/or optimization application is operable to generate an obfuscation algorithm or encryption key and incorporate the obfuscation algorithm or the encryption key into the network traffic control software (Paragraph 13, 16-17)
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Xu et al. U.S. Patent # 11,558,780 which teaches about user transfer in cloud radio access network using packet data convergence protocol sequence number information and radio link control layer buffer information for data transmission.
Brosnan et al. U.S. Patent # 11,133,999 which teaches about network sensor deployment for deep packet inspection.
Zhao et al. U.S. Patent # 11,637,813 which teaches about container deployment for a network.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DHAIRYA A PATEL whose telephone number is (571)272-5809. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 7:30am-4:00pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Kamal B Divecha can be reached at 571-272-5863. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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DHAIRYA A. PATEL
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2453
/DHAIRYA A PATEL/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2453
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