Prior art — US Patent RE48633

An analysis of prior art cited during the prosecution of US Patent RE48633 reveals several key references that describe foundational concepts in cloud computing and automated system provisioning. Below is an examination of the most relevant of these references and their potential impact on the claims of the RE48633 patent. The analysis focuses on potential anticipation under 35 U.S.C. § 102, which requires a single prior art reference to disclose every element of a claimed invention.

Analysis of Key Prior Art References

The core of RE48633's independent claims (1, 12, and 20) lies in a specific sequence of operations:

Receiving a user specification for an N-tier cloud environment that does not yet exist.
Sending an "initializing event" to make the configuration for this environment available.
Sending the application's data to begin execution in the newly configured environment.

A successful § 102 challenge would need to find a single reference that explicitly or inherently discloses this complete sequence.

1. U.S. Patent No. 7,620,703 B1 (the '703 patent)

Full Citation: Archarya, A., et al., "Method and system for virtual service provisioning," U.S. Patent No. 7,620,703 B1.
Filing Date: June 17, 2002
Issue Date: November 17, 2009
Brief Description: The '703 patent, assigned to International Business Machines Corporation (IBM), describes a system for provisioning "virtual services" on a network. It discloses a method where a service provider can dynamically allocate and de-allocate resources (servers, storage, etc.) to create a virtual service tailored to a customer's request. The system uses a "service specification" to define the required components and their interconnections, and a provisioner component to orchestrate the resource allocation and configuration.
Anticipation Analysis:
- Claim 1(a) (Determining a not-yet-instantiated environment): The '703 patent discloses receiving a "service specification" which defines a virtual service, analogous to the "initial user specification" for an "N-tier computing environment" in RE48633. (See '703 patent, col. 4, ll. 4-12). This specified service is not instantiated until the provisioning process begins. This element appears to be disclosed.
- Claim 1(b) (Sending initializing event for configuration): The '703 patent describes a "Provisioner" component that takes the service specification and orchestrates the allocation and configuration of resources to build the virtual service. This orchestration can be seen as analogous to the "initializing event" that causes the "environment configuration to be made available." The Provisioner configures network connections, software, and middleware based on the specification. (See '703 patent, col. 4, ll. 54-67).
- Claim 1(c) (Sending application data for execution): The '703 patent focuses on provisioning the infrastructure (the "virtual service") but is less explicit about the final step of deploying the application code itself for execution. It describes configuring software components as part of the provisioning, but the specific step of a separate entity "sending application data" after the environment is configured is not clearly delineated in the same manner as claimed.
- Conclusion: While the '703 patent describes automated provisioning of a specified virtual environment, it may not explicitly teach the final step of sending application data to begin execution as a distinct action following the environment's configuration. Therefore, a strong argument could be made that it does not anticipate claim 1, although it is highly relevant under § 103 (obviousness). It potentially anticipates claims 1, 12, and 20.

2. U.S. Patent No. 7,925,763 B2 (the '763 patent)

Full Citation: Croft, R., et al., "Automated deployment of a web application in a virtual machine," U.S. Patent No. 7,925,763 B2.
Filing Date: September 15, 2006
Issue Date: April 12, 2011
Brief Description: The '763 patent, also assigned to IBM, details a method for automating the deployment of a web application into a virtual machine (VM). It describes creating a "virtual image" that contains the operating system, middleware, and the application itself. This image can then be deployed to a hypervisor, which instantiates the VM. The process is guided by a deployment document that specifies the configuration.
Anticipation Analysis:
- Claim 1(a) (Determining a not-yet-instantiated environment): The '763 patent discusses using a deployment document (an XML file) to define the topology and configuration of the required application environment. This corresponds to the "initial user specification" and defines an environment that is not yet instantiated. (See '763 patent, col. 3, ll. 4-14).
- Claim 1(b) (Sending initializing event for configuration): The '763 patent's "deployment framework" reads the deployment document and interacts with a hypervisor to provision the necessary virtual machines. This act of provisioning based on the specification serves the same function as the "initializing event" claimed in RE48633.
- Claim 1(c) (Sending application data for execution): A key distinction in the '763 patent is its preference for bundling the application within the virtual image that is deployed. The claimed method in RE48633 appears to separate the environment configuration from the subsequent sending of application data. The '763 patent teaches packaging them together. (See '763 patent, col. 2, ll. 45-51). Because the application is pre-packaged in the image, there isn't a separate step of "sending application data" to an already-configured environment to "cause the application to begin execution." The execution begins when the VM boots.
- Conclusion: The '763 patent does not appear to anticipate the claims of RE48633 because it bundles the application with the environment image, rather than sending the application data after the environment's configuration is made available. This reference is highly relevant for obviousness but likely fails to anticipate under § 102. It does not anticipate claims 1, 12, or 20.

3. U.S. Patent Application Pub. No. 2008/0209425 A1 (the '425 publication)

Full Citation: Khandekar, M., et al., "System and method for managing virtual machine images and their deployment," U.S. Patent Application Pub. No. 2008/0209425 A1.
Filing Date: February 27, 2007
Publication Date: August 28, 2008
Brief Description: This application from VMware describes a "Virtual Appliance" concept. A virtual appliance is a pre-configured virtual machine image containing a software stack designed for a specific purpose. The publication discusses a management server that maintains a repository of these virtual appliances and deploys them onto host machines based on user requests, handling configuration properties in the process.
Anticipation Analysis:
- Claim 1(a) (Determining a not-yet-instantiated environment): The user selects a virtual appliance and provides configuration parameters, which defines the environment to be created. This environment does not exist until it is deployed from the image. This element is disclosed. (See '425 pub., para.).
- Claim 1(b) (Sending initializing event for configuration): The management server initiates a "deploy operation," which causes the virtual appliance to be instantiated on a host. This deployment includes customizing the VM based on the user-provided configuration properties. This can be viewed as the "initializing event." (See '425 pub., para.).
- Claim 1(c) (Sending application data for execution): Similar to the '763 patent, the '425 publication's paradigm is based on deploying a pre-packaged virtual appliance that already contains the application. The primary mode of operation is not to configure a generic environment and then separately push application code to it. The application is integral to the virtual appliance being deployed.
- Conclusion: The '425 publication does not appear to anticipate the claims because its teachings are centered on deploying self-contained, pre-built virtual appliances that include the application, rather than the claimed sequence of configuring an environment and then sending application data to it. It does not anticipate claims 1, 12, or 20.

4. U.S. Patent Application Pub. No. 2008/0222285 A1 (the '285 publication)

Full Citation: Cherkasova, L., et al., "Method and apparatus for automated, on-demand, and end-to-end setting up of application environments," U.S. Patent Application Pub. No. 2008/0222285 A1.
Filing Date: March 14, 2007
Publication Date: September 11, 2008
Brief Description: This HP publication describes an "on-demand utility service" for creating multi-tier application environments. It explicitly discloses a "logical service template" that defines the structure of an N-tier application (e.g., web servers, application servers, database servers). A provisioning engine uses this template to automatically provision VMs and configure the software and network for the entire environment.
Anticipation Analysis:
- Claim 1(a) (Determining a not-yet-instantiated environment): The '285 publication's use of a "logical service template" to define a "multi-tier application service" directly maps to the claimed "initial user specification" for an "N-tier computing environment." The environment is created on-demand and is thus "not yet instantiated." (See '285 pub., Abstract, Fig. 2). This element is clearly disclosed.
- Claim 1(b) (Sending initializing event for configuration): The "provisioning engine" described in the '285 publication takes the template and automates the entire setup process, including VM creation, OS installation, middleware configuration, and network setup. This process directly corresponds to the "initializing event" that makes the "environment configuration" available. (See '285 pub., para.).
- Claim 1(c) (Sending application data for execution): The '285 publication further discloses that after the infrastructure is provisioned, the "application components are installed and configured on specified servers." (See '285 pub., para.,). This describes the step of deploying the application code into the newly created environment, which is analogous to "sending application data" to "begin execution." The separation of infrastructure provisioning from application component installation is taught.
- Conclusion: The '285 publication appears to disclose all elements of claim 1. It describes defining a non-existent N-tier environment via a template, automatically provisioning that environment, and then installing the application components onto the provisioned infrastructure. This reference presents the strongest case for anticipating independent claims 1, 12, and 20 of RE48633.