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 .
This is a Non-Final Office Action in response to the communication filed on June 04, 2025.
Claims 1-20 have been examined.
Drawings
The drawings are objected to because figures 4-6 are not readable. Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicant's claim for foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. 119(a)-(d). The certified copy has been filed in parent Application No. 19/228,091 filed on June 04, 2025.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on June 04, 2025, was filed after the mailing date of the application 19/228,091 filed on June 04, 2025. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102 of this title, 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.
The factual inquiries set forth in Graham v. John Deere Co., 383 U.S. 1, 148 USPQ 459 (1966), that are applied for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claims 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yingpei et al. (Chinese Patent Application No.: CN 2017/11167940 A / or “Yingpei” hereinafter) in view of Pingzhong et al. (Chinese Patent Application No.: CN201910104188A/ or “Pingzhong” hereinafter [both prior arts are provided by the applicant]).
Regarding claim 1, Yingpei discloses “A data transmission method, applied to a client, and comprising” (Abstract: data transmission method, device and medium are disclosed):
“parsing request information in a first user request, [in response to acquiring the first user request initiated based on any one of non-security protocols]” (Para 017: detecting type of data transmitted in the data packet; and Para 0059);
“determining a target security protocol, wherein a security of the target security protocol is larger than a security of each of the [non-security protocols]” (Para 0059: based on the detected data packet which is a preset data type the data is encapsulated);
“and forming the request information into a second user request according to a constraint format corresponding to the target security protocol, and transmitting the second user request to a server, enabling the server to respond to the second user request and return corresponding data to the client” (Para 0057: the transmitted packet is secured using SSL protocol; and Abstract: where the data packet encapsulation using SSL protocol is based on the network address and the port of the application server data packet being transmitted i.e., “target security protocol”).
But Yingpei fails to specially disclose detecting unsecure data packet transmission protocol.
However, Pingzhong discloses detecting unsecure data packet transmission protocol (Pingzhong, Para 011: determines the connection request is a TCP connection request; and Para 036: where the connection is an unsecure connection involving SNMP, Telnet, HTTP, FTP, etc.).
It would have been obvious to an ordinary person skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to employ the teachings of detecting unsecure data packet transmission protocol of Pingzhong to the system of Yingpei to create a system where analyzing data packets for unsecure data transmission protocol and robust security protocol can be applied and the ordinary person skilled in the art would have been motivated to combine to “…secure access of the switch can be realized by converting the non-secure channel into a secure channel…” (Pingzhong, Para 0036).
Regarding claim 2, in view of claim 1, Yingpei discloses “wherein the forming the request information into the second user request according to the constraint format corresponding to the target security protocol comprises: determining the constraint format corresponding to the target security protocol; and adding the request information into a field corresponding to the target security protocol according to the constraint format to obtain the second user request” (Abstract: where the data packet encapsulation using SSL protocol is based on the network address and the port of the application server data packet being transmitted i.e., “target security protocol”).
Regarding claim 3, in view of claim 1, Yingpei discloses “wherein the request information comprises a protocol type; the transmitting the second user request to the server comprises: transmitting the second user request to a second secure port, corresponding to the protocol type, of the server through a first secure port corresponding to the protocol type;
and the enabling the server to respond to the second user request and return the corresponding data to the client comprises: after the server receives the second user request through the second secure port, forwarding the second user request to a non-secure port corresponding to the second secure port for processing, and returning the corresponding data to the client” (Abstract: where the data packet encapsulation using SSL protocol is based on the network address and the port of the application server data packet being transmitted i.e., “target security protocol”; and Para 028-035).
Regarding claim 4, in view of claim 1, Yingpei discloses “wherein before the acquiring the first user request initiated based on any one of the non-security protocols, the data transmission method further comprises: determining a transmission port corresponding to each non-security protocol; and monitoring each transmission port to intercept the first user request outputted through the transmission port” (Para 0054: obtains source IP address and port).
Regarding claim 5, in view of claim 1, Yingpei in view Pingzhong disclose “wherein the data transmission method further comprises: transmitting the first user request to the server in response to acquiring the first user request initiated based on any one of the non-security protocols, enabling the server to respond to the first user request and return the corresponding data to the client” (Pingzhong, Para 011: determines the connection request is a TCP connection request; and Para 036: where the connection is an unsecure connection involving SNMP, Telnet, HTTP, FTP, etc.) [see claim 1 for motivation].
Regarding claim 6, in view of claim 5, Yingpei in view Pingzhong disclose “wherein the data transmission method further comprises: determining a current interaction mode, wherein the current interaction mode comprises a secure mode and a non-secure mode; the transmitting the first user request to the server in response to acquiring the first user request initiated based on any one of the non-security protocols comprises:
determining that the current interaction mode is the non-secure interaction mode, transmitting the first user request to the server in response to acquiring the first user request initiated based on any one of the non-security protocols” (Pingzhong, Para 011: determines the connection request is a TCP connection request; and Para 036: where the connection is an unsecure connection involving SNMP, Telnet, HTTP, FTP, etc.) [see claim 1 for motivation];
“and the data transmission method further comprises:
determining that the current interaction mode is the secure interaction mode, rejecting transmitting the first user request to the server in response to acquiring the first user request initiated based on any one of the non-security protocols” (Yingpei, Para 058: if secure mode is detect then interception of data is not performed).
Regarding claim 7, in view of claim 6, Yingpei in view Pingzhong disclose “wherein the data transmission method further comprises: prompting first information and second information, wherein the first information corresponds to the secure mode, and the second information corresponds to the non-secure mode; and the determining the current interaction mode comprises: determining that the current interaction mode is the secure mode in response to receiving a first selection instruction transmitted by a user based on the first information, and determining that the current interaction mode is the non-secure mode in response to receiving a second selection instruction transmitted by the user based on the second information” (Pingzhong, Para 011: determines the connection request is a TCP connection request; and Para 036: where the connection is an unsecure connection involving SNMP, Telnet, HTTP, FTP, etc.) [see claim 1 for motivation]
Regarding claim 8, in view of claim 5, Yingpei in view Pingzhong disclose “wherein the data transmission method further comprises: determining a current interaction mode, wherein the current interaction mode comprises a secure mode and a non-secure mode; the enabling the server to respond to the first user request and return the corresponding data to the client comprises: in response to the current interaction mode being the non-secure interaction mode, enabling the server to respond to the first user request and return the corresponding data to the client” (Pingzhong, Para 011: determines the connection request is a TCP connection request; and Para 036: where the connection is an unsecure connection involving SNMP, Telnet, HTTP, FTP, etc.) [see claim 1 for motivation];
“and the data transmission method further comprises: in response to the current interaction mode being the secure interaction mode, enabling the server not to respond to the first user request” (Yingpei, Para 058: if secure mode is detect then interception of data is not performed).
Regarding claim 9, in view of claim 8, Yingpei in view Pingzhong disclose “wherein the data transmission method further comprises: prompting first information and second information, wherein the first information corresponds to the secure mode, and the second information corresponds to the non-secure mode” (Pingzhong, Para 011: determines the connection request is a TCP connection request; and Para 036: where the connection is an unsecure connection involving SNMP, Telnet, HTTP, FTP, etc.) [see claim 1 for motivation];
“and the determining the current interaction mode comprises: determining that the current interaction mode is the secure mode in response to receiving a first selection instruction transmitted by a user based on the first information, and determining that the current interaction mode is the non-secure mode in response to receiving a second selection instruction transmitted by the user based on the second information” (Yingpei, Para 058: if secure mode is detect then interception of data is not performed).
Regarding claim 10, in view of claim 8, Yingpei discloses “wherein the enabling the server not to respond to the first user request in response to the current interaction mode being the secure interaction mode comprises: in response to the current interaction mode being the secure interaction mode, determining, by the server, all target ports configured to receive the first user request, and responding, by the server, to none of the first user request received by any one of the target ports” (Para 0057: the transmitted packet is secured using SSL protocol; and Abstract: where the data packet encapsulation using SSL protocol is based on the network address and the port of the application server data packet being transmitted i.e., “target security protocol”).
Regarding claim 11, in view of claim 1, Yingpei discloses “wherein the determining the target security protocol comprises: determining the target security protocol based on a user selection instruction” (Para 062: Client app initiates TCP data transmission and destination port dictates security protocol to use).
Regarding claim 12, in view of claim 1, Yingpei in view Pingzhong disclose “wherein the determining the target security protocol comprises: acquiring a non-security protocol corresponding to the first user request; and determining the target security protocol corresponding to the non-security protocol” (Abstract: “TCP connection is established between the client side security agent communication conversion module and the client side, TCP connection is established between the server side security agent communication conversion module and the server side, and security channel SSL TCP connection is established between the client side security agent communication conversion module and the server side security agent communication conversion module”). [see claim 1 for motivation].
Regarding claim 13, in view of claim 12, Yingpei in view Pingzhong disclose “wherein the data transmission method further comprises: establishing a conversion relationship between each non-security protocol and each security protocol according to a user setting instruction; and the determining the target security protocol comprises: determining the target security protocol according to the non-security protocol corresponding to the first user request and the conversion relationship” (Abstract: “TCP connection is established between the client side security agent communication conversion module and the client side, TCP connection is established between the server side security agent communication conversion module and the server side, and security channel SSL TCP connection is established between the client side security agent communication conversion module and the server side security agent communication conversion module”).
Regarding claim 14, in view of claim 1, Yingpei discloses “wherein the request information comprises an Internet protocol (IP) address of a target server; and the transmitting the second user request to the server comprises: transmitting the second user request to the target server according to the IP address” (Para 062: Client app initiates TCP data transmission and destination port dictates security protocol to use).
Regarding claim 15, in view of claim 1, Yingpei in view Pingzhong disclose “wherein the non-security protocol comprises one or more of an intelligent platform management interface protocol, a simple network management protocol, and an electronic mail protocol” (Pingzhong, Para 011: determines the connection request is a TCP connection request; and Para 036: where the connection is an unsecure connection involving SNMP, Telnet, HTTP, FTP, etc.) [see claim 1 for motivation];
Regarding claim 16, in view of claim 1, Yingpei discloses “wherein the request information comprises a protocol type and a protocol data packet; the enabling the server to respond to the second user request and return the corresponding data to the client comprises: parsing, by the server, the protocol type and the protocol data packet in the second user request to obtain data corresponding to the protocol type and the protocol data packet; and forming the data into a return data packet according to the constraint format corresponding to the target security protocol, and transmitting the return data packet to the client” (Para 062: Client app initiates TCP data transmission and destination port dictates security protocol to use and response is returned).
Regarding claim 17, in view of claim 16, Yingpei discloses “wherein the data transmission method further comprises: parsing the return data packet, and forming the data in the return data packet into a non- security protocol data packet according to the constraint format of the target non-security protocol” (Para 062: Client app initiates TCP data transmission and destination port dictates security protocol to use and response is returned).
Regarding claim 18, claim 18 is directed to a device corresponding to the method recited in claim 1. Claim 18 is similar in scope to claim 1, and is therefore, rejected under similar rationale.
Regarding claim 19, claim 19 is directed to a system corresponding to the method recited in claim 18. Claim 19 is similar in scope to claim 18, and is therefore, rejected under similar rationale.
Regarding claim 20, claim 20 is directed to a non-transitory readable storage medium corresponding to the method recited in claim 1. Claim 20 is similar in scope to claim 1, and is therefore, rejected under similar rationale.
Relevant Prior Arts
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Adusumilli et al. (US 8020201 B2) discloses:
[Abstract] A selection system and method to receive an indication of a security format from a network and to select one of a plurality of security format conversions based on the received indication is described. The indication may be an indication of a wireless security format such as WTLS used by a wireless access device or a wired security format such as SSL used by a wired access device and the security format conversion selected based on the indication may be to another secured format or a plain data format. The indication may include an indication of a port and an indication of a security feature that is supported by the access device
Contact Information
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ABDULLAH ALMAMUN whose telephone number is (571) 270-3392. The examiner can normally be reached on 8 AM - 5 PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Lynn Feild can be reached on (571) 272-2092. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/ABDULLAH ALMAMUN/Examiner, Art Unit 2431
/LYNN D FEILD/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2431
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