Patent 8018880

Prior art

Earlier patents, publications, and products that may anticipate or render the claims unpatentable.

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Prior art

Earlier patents, publications, and products that may anticipate or render the claims unpatentable.

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To identify the most relevant prior art for US patent 8,018,880, I will review the "Citations" section of the patent itself, as this lists the prior art that the patent examiner and applicants considered during prosecution. "Prior art" refers to existing knowledge or inventions that predate the patent application and are used to determine if an invention is new and non-obvious.

Below are the patent citations listed in US8018880B2, along with their publication/filing dates and a brief description. I will then analyze which claims they potentially anticipate under 35 U.S.C. § 102.

Most Relevant Prior Art for US Patent 8,018,880:

The patent 8,018,880 cites the following U.S. patents as prior art:

  • US20040037279A1 to David Zelig

    • Publication Date: February 26, 2004
    • Description: This patent application describes a Virtual Private LAN Service using a multicast protocol. It relates to creating virtual private networks and handling multicast traffic within them.
    • Potential Anticipation (35 U.S.C. § 102): Claims 1, 14, 26, and 39 generally describe the creation of L2VPNs and the use of VSIs. While Zelig's application focuses on VPLS and multicast, the fundamental concept of establishing a Layer 2 VPN and managing traffic within it could potentially anticipate the broad idea of an L2VPN as generally described in the preamble of these claims. However, the specific PBB/PBT technology and the novel split horizon rules of 8,018,880 would likely differentiate it.

  • US20040042454A1 to Attaullah Zabihi

    • Publication Date: March 4, 2004
    • Description: This patent application describes stackable virtual local area network provisioning in bridged networks, focusing on how VLANs can be provisioned in a hierarchical manner.
    • Potential Anticipation (35 U.S.C. § 102): The concept of assigning customers to separate VLANs or service instances to create L2VPNs is mentioned as a known solution in the background of 8,018,880. Zabihi's application, focusing on stackable VLAN provisioning, could be considered in relation to how service instances (which can be identified by VLAN IDs or stacked VLAN IDs) are used to differentiate customer traffic, as discussed in the description of 8,018,880. This could potentially anticipate aspects related to Service Instance identification in claims like Claim 6 (method) and Claim 19 (system).

  • US20040081171A1 to Finn Norman W.

    • Publication Date: April 29, 2004
    • Description: This patent application describes a large-scale Layer 2 metropolitan area network.
    • Potential Anticipation (35 U.S.C. § 102): This reference could potentially anticipate the general concept of a large-scale L2VPN over an Ethernet network, which is a problem 8,018,880 aims to solve. However, 8,018,880 specifically addresses PBB/PBT networks and their interworking with VPLS, offering more detailed solutions for these technologies.

  • US20050013297A1 to Telefonaktiebolaget Lm Ericsson (Publ)

    • Publication Date: January 20, 2005
    • Description: This patent application details arrangements for connection-oriented transport in a packet switched communications network.
    • Potential Anticipation (35 U.S.C. § 102): Given that PBT/PBB-TE trunks are connection-oriented, this reference might generally anticipate the concept of establishing connection-oriented paths for transport within a packet-switched network, as broadly mentioned in the coupling steps of claims 1, 14, 26, and 39.

  • US20050044262A1 to Cisco Technology, Inc.

    • Publication Date: February 24, 2005
    • Description: This patent application focuses on a system and method for interconnecting heterogeneous Layer 2 VPN applications.
    • Potential Anticipation (35 U.S.C. § 102): This reference is highly relevant as 8,018,880 specifically addresses seamless interworking between L2VPN over PBB and VPLS (an MPLS-based L2VPN). Claim 1 and its dependent claims, as well as claims 14, 26, and 39 (if they include the MPLS interworking), could potentially be anticipated by the broad concept of interconnecting heterogeneous L2VPN applications. However, the specific "split horizon" rules and the use of PBB/PBT as the underlying transport for one of the L2VPNs, as detailed in 8,018,880, would be key distinguishing features.

  • US20060029032A1 to Nortel Networks Limited

    • Publication Date: February 9, 2006
    • Description: This patent application describes a system and method for a hub and spoke virtual private network.
    • Potential Anticipation (35 U.S.C. § 102): The general concept of a VPN and its topology (hub and spoke) could broadly relate to the L2VPN services described in 8,018,880. However, 8,018,880 emphasizes a multipoint-to-multipoint service using a full mesh of PBT trunks or Service Instances.

  • US20060187950A1 to Alcatel

    • Publication Date: August 24, 2006
    • Description: This patent application covers an architecture and provisioning tools for managed multicast virtual private LAN trees.
    • Potential Anticipation (35 U.S.C. § 102): Similar to Zelig (US20040037279A1), this reference could potentially anticipate aspects related to multicast forwarding in an L2VPN context, as 8,018,880 mentions supporting unicast, broadcast, and multicast forwarding. The "provisioning tools" aspect could also generally relate to the use of a control plane, though 8,018,880 specifies an external control plane.

  • US20070008982A1 to Cisco Technology, Inc.

    • Publication Date: January 11, 2007
    • Description: This patent application describes redundant pseudowires between Ethernet access domains.
    • Potential Anticipation (35 U.S.C. § 102): This reference is relevant to the reliability aspects of L2VPNs. The description of 8,018,880 mentions connecting a customer location to multiple service provider sites for redundant access (FIG. 2) and discusses the slow recovery of STP-based solutions. The concept of redundant pseudowires could potentially anticipate methods of providing redundancy for L2VPN services, though the specific PBB/PBT and VPLS interworking might still be distinguishing.

  • US20080101390A1 to Chunzhe Hu

    • Publication Date: May 1, 2008 (Filed: August 9, 2005)
    • Description: This patent application describes a method and system for implementing hierarchical VPLS.
    • Potential Anticipation (35 U.S.C. § 102): This is highly relevant as 8,018,880 describes its architecture as a "hierarchical L2VPN service where a L2VPN over PBB (L2VPNoPBB) is used at the metro network, while VPLS is used at the MPLS WAN (core) network" (FIG. 3). Claims 9, 10, 12, 22, 24, 34, 35, 37, 47, and 48, which specifically refer to VPLS and hierarchical L2VPNs, could be directly impacted by this prior art. Chunzhe Hu's application directly addresses hierarchical VPLS, which could anticipate the general concept of combining different L2VPN technologies in a hierarchical manner. However, the specific combination with PBB and the unique split horizon rules in 8,018,880 could be distinguishing.

  • US20080172497A1 to Nortel Networks Limited

    • Publication Date: July 17, 2008 (Filed: January 17, 2007)
    • Description: This patent application describes a method and apparatus for interworking Ethernet and MPLS networks.
    • Potential Anticipation (35 U.S.C. § 102): This is also very relevant, as a core aspect of 8,018,880 is the seamless interworking between PBB (an Ethernet network) and MPLS networks (via VPLS). Claims 1, 9, 12, 14, 24, 26, 34, 37, 39, 47, and 50, which address this interworking, could be anticipated by the broad concept disclosed by Nortel. The specific mechanisms, such as the described split horizon rules for the interworking VSI, would be critical for distinguishing 8,018,880.

  • US20080219268A1 to Dennison Larry R.

    • Publication Date: September 11, 2008 (Filed: March 1, 2007)
    • Description: This patent application describes a software control plane for switches and routers.
    • Potential Anticipation (35 U.S.C. § 102): This reference is directly pertinent to the "external control plane" aspect of 8,018,880. Claims 1, 14, 26, and 39 all include provisioning VSIs using an external control plane. Dennison's application describes a software control plane that is not tied to specific router hardware, which aligns with the advantages of an external control plane highlighted in 8,018,880 (e.g., eliminating hardware limitations and vendor lock-in). This reference could potentially anticipate the use of an external control plane for provisioning network elements.

  • US20080247406A1 to Hammerhead Systems, Inc.

    • Publication Date: October 9, 2008 (Filed: March 26, 2007)
    • Description: This is a publication of the same patent application as 8,018,880, but published prior to the grant of 8,018,880. It has the same title: "Layer 2 virtual private network over PBB-TE/PBT and seamless interworking with VPLS".
    • Potential Anticipation (35 U.S.C. § 102): This is a continuation-in-part or related application, and as such, it would likely be considered co-pending or part of the same patent family, not typically prior art for novelty purposes under 35 U.S.C. § 102 unless specific priority dates or inventorship issues arise. However, for a complete analysis, it's important to note its existence.

  • US7787478B2 to Cisco Technology, Inc.

    • Publication Date: August 31, 2010 (Filed: March 7, 2006)
    • Description: This patent describes managing traffic within and between virtual private networks when using a session border controller.
    • Potential Anticipation (35 U.S.C. § 102): While focusing on session border controllers, the broader concept of managing traffic within and between VPNs is relevant. Claims in 8,018,880 dealing with frame forwarding (e.g., split horizon rules in claims 1, 14, 26, and 39) could be broadly related to traffic management, though the specific context and mechanisms differ significantly.

  • US20040170173A1 to Ping Pan

    • Publication Date: September 2, 2004
    • Description: This patent application describes a method and apparatus for transporting packet data over an optical network.
    • Potential Anticipation (35 U.S.C. § 102): This could generally anticipate the transport of packet data, which underlies L2VPNs. However, it does not specifically address PBB/PBT or the advanced L2VPN features of 8,018,880.

  • US20050169270A1 to Ryoichi Mutou

    • Publication Date: August 4, 2005
    • Description: This patent application describes a router, frame forwarding method, and lower layer frame virtual forwarding system.
    • Potential Anticipation (35 U.S.C. § 102): Mutou's application could potentially anticipate aspects of frame forwarding within a virtualized networking environment, as addressed by the VSI and split horizon rules in 8,018,880.

  • US20060047851A1 to Cisco Technology, Inc.

    • Publication Date: March 2, 2006
    • Description: This patent application describes a computer network with point-to-point pseudowire redundancy.
    • Potential Anticipation (35 U.S.C. § 102): Similar to US20070008982A1, this addresses redundancy using pseudowires. While 8,018,880 uses PBT trunks, the idea of robust point-to-point connections with redundancy could be generally anticipated.

  • US20060245436A1 to Cisco Technology, Inc.

    • Publication Date: November 2, 2006
    • Description: This patent application describes a comprehensive model for VPLS.
    • Potential Anticipation (35 U.S.C. § 102): This is highly relevant to the VPLS portion of 8,018,880. The comprehensive VPLS model could potentially anticipate the VPLS network described in 8,018,880, especially those claims dealing with the VPLS part of the end-to-end L2VPN (e.g., claims 9, 10, 12, 22, 24, 34, 35, 37, 47, and 48). The specific interworking with PBB and the unique split horizon rules would be the distinguishing features.

  • US20070086361A1 to Nortel Networks Limited

    • Publication Date: April 19, 2007 (Filed: October 5, 2005)
    • Description: This patent application describes Provider Link State Bridging.
    • Potential Anticipation (35 U.S.C. § 102): While not PBT, Provider Link State Bridging is another approach to carrier Ethernet networking. This could broadly relate to the underlying bridging technologies used in the PBB network.

  • US7688756B2 to Nortel Networks Limited

    • Publication Date: March 30, 2010 (Filed: October 5, 2005)
    • Description: This patent describes Provider Link State Bridging (a granted patent from US20070086361A1).
    • Potential Anticipation (35 U.S.C. § 102): Same as above, but as a granted patent, it carries more weight. It could broadly relate to the underlying bridging technologies used in the PBB network.

  • US20080212595A1 to Hammerhead Systems, Inc.

    • Publication Date: September 4, 2008 (Filed: January 25, 2007)
    • Description: This patent application describes mapping PBT and PBB-TE traffic to VPLS and other services.
    • Potential Anticipation (35 U.S.C. § 102): This is highly relevant as it explicitly discusses mapping PBT/PBB-TE traffic to VPLS. This could potentially anticipate aspects of the interworking function between L2VPN over PBB and VPLS, as described in 8,018,880, particularly in claims related to seamless interworking (e.g., claims 1, 9, 12, 14, 24, 26, 34, 37, 39, 47, and 50). The specifics of the "split horizon" rules in 8,018,880 would be a key area for differentiation.

  • US20080279196A1 to Robert Friskney

    • Publication Date: November 13, 2008 (Filed: April 6, 2004)
    • Description: This patent application describes differential forwarding in address-based carrier networks.
    • Potential Anticipation (35 U.S.C. § 102): This could generally anticipate aspects of traffic forwarding and differentiation within carrier networks, but it's less specific to the PBB/PBT and VPLS interworking or the novel split horizon rules of 8,018,880.

Overall Assessment of Prior Art Relevance:

The most relevant prior art references for US patent 8,018,880 appear to be those that directly address the creation of L2VPNs, interworking between different Layer 2 technologies (especially Ethernet and MPLS), hierarchical VPN structures, and the use of control planes for provisioning. Specifically:

  • US20050044262A1 (Cisco Technology, Inc.): Interconnecting heterogeneous Layer 2 VPN applications.
  • US20080101390A1 (Chunzhe Hu): Hierarchical VPLS.
  • US20080172497A1 (Nortel Networks Limited): Interworking Ethernet and MPLS networks.
  • US20060245436A1 (Cisco Technology, Inc.): Comprehensive model for VPLS.
  • US20080212595A1 (Hammerhead Systems, Inc.): Mapping PBT and PBB-TE traffic to VPLS and other services.
  • US20080219268A1 (Dennison Larry R.): Software control plane for switches and routers.

These references collectively suggest that many of the individual components or broader concepts (L2VPNs, VPLS, interworking between Ethernet/MPLS, external control planes) were known in the art. The novelty of US8018880B2 largely lies in the specific combination of PBB/PBT with VPLS and, critically, the novel split horizon rules (claims 1, 14, 26, 39) that are designed to prevent loops in these specific interworking scenarios, especially at the boundaries between PBB and MPLS networks, or between PBB core and metro networks. An argument for anticipation under 35 U.S.C. § 102 would need to demonstrate that one or more of these prior art references explicitly or inherently discloses all elements of a given claim, including the specific details of the split horizon rules and their application in the described architectural context.

Generated 5/27/2026, 9:17:44 PM