Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application is being examined under the pre-AIA first to invent provisions.
DETAILED ACTION
This communication is a second Office Action on the Merits. Claims 21-30, 36-39, 42-44, 46, 48, 50-54 as amended 14 MAY 2026, are pending and have been considered as follows:
Drawings
The drawings are objected to as failing to comply with 37 CFR 1.83 or 1.84 because of the following informalities:
The drawings must show every feature of the invention specified in the claims, therefore the following must be shown or the feature(s) canceled from the claim(s):
Cl. 21: “server system” has not been explicitly pointed out
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.
Claim Objections
Claim 28 objected to because of the following informalities:
Cl. 28 ln. 8: “wherein the first quantity of data is recorded separately from the second quantity of data” appears to lack proper antecedent basis from the specification as filed
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
CLAIMS PRESENTED BELOW IN ORDER OF DEPENDENCE
Claim 21-26, 36-37, 43, 46, 48, 50, 27-29, 38-39, 44, 51-52 rejected under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable over Brown US 20030097806 A1 in view of VALENTINO et al. US 20140268601 A1 (Valentino), Kassanoff et al. US 9814310 B2 (Kassanoff), Ransil et al. US 7685109 B1 (Ransil) and Feng et al. US 20090144220 A1 (Feng).
As per claim 21 the primary reference of Brown teaches a geographically dispersed distributed file storage system (“Enterprise Structure” title) for concealed data storage in non-datacenter building structures (“any type of…one or more spaces or rooms… two or more buildings or a national or international network of buildings linked together” [0120]; see also FIG. 164), comprising:
a plurality of data farms (see “Bridge Router Interstitial Space Commuter 943”, FIG. 162; this is considered exemplary of a data storing and transferring assembly) distributed across a plurality of separate non-datacenter building structures (“any type of…one or more spaces or rooms… two or more buildings or a national or international network of buildings linked together” [0120]; see also FIG. 164) at geographically dispersed locations, each data farm comprising:
a data storage module positioned within a concealed location (see 943, near matrix site 170, top of FIG. 162) of a respective non-datacenter building structure comprising a space within a wall structure between adjacent wall studs;
a storage housing (see rectangular outline as shown around 943, FIG. 162) configured to contain the data storage module (“storage devices” [0142]),
the storage housing including wireless transceivers wireless transceivers (see “interactively controlled by any of the Occupied Space Commuters” [0035]; also “accessed by wired and wireless means” Cl. 1) positioned on multiple surfaces thereof (see “network of conductors and flexible circuits passes from node site to node site in various upgradable configurations, with or without passing through transceivers providing wireless communication between the modular-accessible-matrix site or modular accessible node site and the equipment, robot or person operating in the enterprise alterable distributed architectural multinetgridometry within any interstitial accommodation matrix formed between the ceiling, wall, partition, column or floor accessible membrane barrier” [0250]; this is recognized as teaching all of the components are wirelessly connected),
wherein the wall studs include apertures (see apertures 133, FIG. 162) configured to enable communication between storage housings positioned on opposite sides of a wall stud;
a local control module (“switches” [0142]) comprising a data protection module (“configuring devices” [0142]); and
a communication interface (“routers” [0142]) configured to connect the data farm [[and]] to a wide-area network (“wide area networks” [0142]);
a server system communicatively coupled to the plurality of data farms (see “Bridge Router Interstitial Space Commuter 943”, FIG. 162; this is considered exemplary of a data storing and transferring —a “communicatively coupled“— assembly) via the wide-area network (“wide area networks” [0142]).
Brown but fails to explicitly disclose:
a data storage module comprising solid state storage devices configured for reduced power consumption and heat generation;
a backing material configured to support the data storage module,
the backing material comprising a mesh substrate having a structure attachment configured to attach the mesh substrate to one or both of the adjacent wall studs; and
the server system comprising a storage network module configured to:
maintain a directory of files stored across the plurality of data farms;
manage data distribution by replicating data items across at least two geographically dispersed data farms;
monitor a state of health of each data farm by receiving periodic heartbeat signals therefrom; and
responsive to determining that an individual data farm has become offline,
replicate data items previously stored on the offline data farm to one or more additional data farms by contacting functioning data farms storing copies of the data items;
an administrative module configured to record a quantity of data received or transmitted by the communication interface.
Valentino teaches such solid state modules, specifically:
a data storage module comprising solid state storage devices (see “For the purposes of the present invention, the term "solid-state electronics" refers to those circuits or devices built entirely from solid materials” [0092]) configured for reduced power consumption and heat generation (note: solid-state drives are designed for reduced power consumption with no moving parts and flash memory which requiring less power to operate),
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to modify the assembly of Brown by including the solid state drives as taught by Valentino in order to process data using a more cost effective storage assembly.
Kassanoff teaches an obvious support material deployable as claimed, specifically:
a backing material configured to support the data storage module (see “top panel… shelves” 8:62),
the backing material comprising a mesh substrate having a structure attachment configured to attach the mesh substrate to one or both of the adjacent wall studs (“top panel… side panels… shelves… display support panel… storage 112… mesh” 8:62-9:5);
one or more electronic component attachments disposed on a major surface of the mesh substrate configured to secure the data storage module thereto (“support for connections between such elements” 8:60; this is recognized as “electronic component attachments” as broadly claimed).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to modify the assembly of Brown in view of Valentino by substituting mesh as the structural material as taught by Kassanoff in order to provide a cheap and breathable support layer as it is known in the art to provide ventilation where electronic devices are located.
Ransil teaches such obvious modules and intended uses for storage network components as those claimed, specifically:
the server system comprising a storage network module (“Partitions” 8:34) configured to:
maintain a directory (“searchable index and interface” 6:34) of files stored across the plurality of data farms;
manage data distribution by replicating data items (“Replication may also be used to improve performance by allowing client query (read) requests to be distributed among two or more nodes.” 8:38) across at least two geographically dispersed data farms;
monitor a state of health of each data farm by receiving periodic heartbeat signals therefrom (see “If a node has not received a heartbeat message for another node for a period in excess of a specified threshold or time period (e.g., five minutes), the node may assume that the other node has failed” 60:62); and
responsive to determining that an individual data farm has become offline (see “If a node has not received a heartbeat message for another node for a period in excess of a specified threshold or time period (e.g., five minutes), the node may assume that the other node has failed” 60:62),
replicate data items (see “storage nodes that store replicas of a particular partition may cooperatively participate in a replication group, and group communications may be used within the group to propagate updates to the partition” 8:43) previously stored on the offline data farm to one or more additional data farms by contacting functioning data farms storing copies of the data items.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to modify the assembly of Brown in view of Valentino and Kassanoff by substituting the various uses of accumulated as taught by Ransil in order to improve accessibility for users of the system.
Feng teaches data farms in buildings with a provision for monitoring traffic, specifically:
an administrative module (record 50, [0037]) configured to record a quantity of data received or transmitted by the communication interface (transaction bank 22, FIG. 1) of each data farm (REGION 1, REGION 2 FIG. 1).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to modify the assembly of Brown in view of Valentino. Kassanoff, and Ransil by including the record keeping apparatus as taught by Feng in order to monitor individual use of the system.
As per claim 22 Brown in view of Valentino, Kassanoff, Ransil and Feng teaches the limitations according to claim 21, and Feng further discloses the administrative module is configured to record a quantity of data received or transmitted by the communication interface to one or more remote data servers of the server system (see “Applications, which use the system 10 to store data” [0042] this is recognized as “configured to record a quantity” as broadly claimed). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to modify the assembly of Brown in view of Valentino. Kassanoff, Ransil and Feng by including the record keeping apparatus as taught by Feng in order to monitor individual use of the system.
As per claim 23 Brown in view of Valentino, Kassanoff, Ransil and Feng teaches the limitations according to claim 22, and Ransil further discloses the storage network module (“Partitions” 8:34) is configured to determine an association (see “The storage nodes in a replication group may have identical, or nearly identical, copies or replicas of the partitions. In one embodiment, updates to the partition(s) may be propagated to the storage nodes within the replication group using the gossip protocol. Therefore, "identical" may be subject to the limitations of the gossip protocol, which provides weak consistency. At any given point in time, the partitions within a replication group are not necessarily identical, but converge to be identical as the updates are propagated via the gossip protocol” 25:18; this is recognized as “determine an association” as broadly claimed). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to modify the assembly of Brown in view of Valentino. Kassanoff, Ransil and Feng by including the updates to the partition as taught by Ransil in order to improve accessibility for users of the system.
As per claim 24 Brown in view of Valentino, Kassanoff, Ransil and Feng teaches the limitations according to claim 22, and Brown further discloses the local control module (“switches” [0142]) is configured to determine an association between data stored in at least one data farm of the plurality of data farms (see “Bridge Router Interstitial Space Commuter 943”, FIG. 162; this is considered exemplary of a data storing and transferring assembly) and the one or more remote data servers (“servers” [0142]).
As per claim 25 Brown in view of Valentino, Kassanoff, Ransil and Feng teaches the limitations according to claim 21, and Feng further discloses substantially each data farm is in an untrusted (see "revert to trusting" [0068]) data relationship to other data farms. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to modify the assembly of Brown in view of Valentino, Kassanoff, Ransil and Feng by including the capability of the data farms to be in an untrusted relationship as taught by Feng in order to reduce the risk of single point failure.
As per claim 26 Brown in view of Valentino, Kassanoff, Ransil and Feng teaches the limitations according to claim 21, and Feng further discloses the administrative module (record 50, [0037]) is configured to maintain, for each data farm, separate accounting records for:(i) a first quantity of data transmitted (see “the storage unit may update the record and post the update to a transaction bank” [0010]) by the communication interface of the data farm in response to a client-initiated storage request, retrieval request, restore request, or rewrite request; and
(ii) a second quantity of data transmitted (see “the storage unit may update the record and post the update to a transaction bank” [0010]) by the communication interface of the data farm as part of the replication of data items previously stored on a data farm determined to be offline. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to modify the assembly of Brown in view of Valentino, Kassanoff, Ransil and Feng by including the record keeping apparatus as taught by Feng in order to monitor individual use of the system.
As per claim 36 Brown in view of Valentino, Kassanoff, Ransil and Feng teaches the limitations according to claim 21, and Feng further discloses the server system comprises one or more remote data server (router 14, FIG. 1), and a physical location of each of the one or more remote data servers is not known to each of the data farms (see "both within a farm and across farms" [0041]; this is recognized as teaching "physical location… not known" as broadly claimed). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to modify the assembly of Brown in view of Valentino, Kassanoff, Ransil and Feng by including the capability of the assembly to operate without known precise locations of the data farms as taught by Feng in order to increase the applicability of the system to a larger region.
As per claim 37 Brown in view of Valentino, Kassanoff, Ransil and Feng teaches the limitations according to claim 21, and Brown further discloses wherein the storage housing (see rectangular outline as shown around 943, FIG. 162) further comprises a controller (“Controller modules” [0278]) configured to read and write data to and from the data storage module and to provide a status or state of health via the wireless transceivers (see “interactively controlled by any of the Occupied Space Commuters” [0035]; also “said network… is accessed by wired and wireless means” Cl. 1).
As per claim 43 Brown in view of Valentino, Kassanoff, Ransil and Feng teaches the limitations according to claim 21, and Brown further discloses wherein the non-datacenter building structures (“any type of…one or more spaces or rooms… two or more buildings or a national or international network of buildings linked together” [0120]; see also FIG. 164) comprise at least one of residential buildings, office buildings (“campus of mixed type enterprise buildings 939c” FIG. 164), or retail locations.
As per claim 46 Brown in view of Valentino, Kassanoff, Ransil and Feng teaches the limitations according to claim 21, and Ransil further discloses the storage network module (“Partitions” 8:34) is further configured to periodically ping each data farm (see “If a node has not received a heartbeat message for another node for a period in excess of a specified threshold or time period (e.g., five minutes), the node may assume that the other node has failed” 60:62) that has become offline to determine if the data farm has come back online, and responsive to determining that the data farm has come back online, resume utilizing the data farm after an optional waiting period. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to modify the assembly of Brown in view of Valentino. Kassanoff, Ransil and Feng by including the updates to the partition as taught by Ransil in order to improve accessibility for users of the system.
As per claim 48 Brown in view of Valentino, Kassanoff, Ransil and Feng teaches the limitations according to claim 21, and Feng further discloses wherein the server system is further configured to select data farms for storing data based on one or more factors comprising present storage capacity, communication capacity, current internet traffic in a region, locality bandwidth traffic, or site bandwidth traffic (see “maintains a relationship between each tablet and the storage unit” [0009]; this is considered “configured to select,,, based on… bandwidth traffic” as broadly claimed because a relationship can be broken, or deselected). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to modify the assembly of Brown in view of Valentino, Kassanoff, Ransil and Feng by including the record keeping —and ability to apply a charge— apparatus as taught by Feng in order to monitor individual use of the system.
As per claim 50 Brown in view of Valentino, Kassanoff, Ransil and Feng teaches the limitations according to claim 21, wherein the administrative module (record 50, [0037]) is further configured to manage billing of a primary source data client based on at least one of: a quantity of data written to or read from the distributed file system (“applying a change to the customer's account balance” [0091]), an amount of memory space used, a degree of replication or redundancy, regionalization of data, or strength of encryption. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to modify the assembly of Brown in view of Valentino, Kassanoff, Ransil and Feng by including the record keeping —and ability to apply a charge— apparatus as taught by Feng in order to monitor individual use of the system.
As per claim 27 the primary reference of Brown teaches a method of operating a geographically dispersed distributed file storage system (“Enterprise Structure” title) for concealed data storage in non-datacenter building structures (“any type of…one or more spaces or rooms… two or more buildings or a national or international network of buildings linked together” [0120]; see also FIG. 164),
the method comprising:
providing a plurality of data farms (see “Bridge Router Interstitial Space Commuter 943”, FIG. 162; this is considered exemplary of a data storing and transferring assembly) distributed across a plurality of separate non-datacenter building structures (“any type of…one or more spaces or rooms… two or more buildings or a national or international network of buildings linked together” [0120]; see also FIG. 164) at geographically dispersed locations,
each data farm comprising:
a data storage module (see 943, near matrix site 170, top of FIG. 162)
the data storage module positioned within a concealed location (see 943, near matrix site 170, top of FIG. 162; this is recognized as at least somewhat “concealed” as broadly claimed) of a respective non-datacenter building structure comprising a space within a wall structure between adjacent wall studs;
a storage housing (see rectangular outline as shown around 943, FIG. 162) configured to contain the data storage module,
the storage housing including wireless transceivers (see “interactively controlled by any of the Occupied Space Commuters” [0035]; also “accessed by wired and wireless means” Cl. 1) positioned on multiple surfaces thereof (see “network of conductors and flexible circuits passes from node site to node site in various upgradable configurations, with or without passing through transceivers providing wireless communication between the modular-accessible-matrix site or modular accessible node site and the equipment, robot or person operating in the enterprise alterable distributed architectural multinetgridometry within any interstitial accommodation matrix formed between the ceiling, wall, partition, column or floor accessible membrane barrier” [0250]; this is recognized as teaching all of the components are wirelessly connected);
a local control module (“switches” [0142]) comprising a data protection module (“configuring devices” [0142]); and
a communication interface (“routers” [0142]) configured to connect the data farm [[and]]to a wide-area network;
receiving, at a server system communicatively coupled to the plurality of data farms (see “Bridge Router Interstitial Space Commuter 943”, FIG. 162; this is considered exemplary of a data storing and transferring assembly) via the wide-area network, communicatively coupled to the plurality of data farms (see “Bridge Router Interstitial Space Commuter 943”, FIG. 162; this is considered exemplary of a data storing and transferring —a “communicatively coupled“— assembly) incoming client data from a remote user application (see “The equipment and devices at various locations are interconnected and may communicate interactively… multinetgridometry 528… transferred from one Interstitial Space Commuter to another and from one device to another”[0566]);
Brown but fails to explicitly disclose:
comprising solid state storage devices configured for reduced power consumption and heat generation,
a backing material configured to support the data storage module,
the backing material comprising a mesh substrate having a structure attachment configured to attach the mesh substrate to one or both of the adjacent wall studs, and
one or more electronic component attachments disposed on a major surface of the mesh substrate configured to secure the data storage module thereto;
replicating the received client data across at least two geographically dispersed data farms (see “Bridge Router Interstitial Space Commuter 943”, FIG. 162; this is considered exemplary of a data storing and transferring —a “communicatively coupled“— assembly) such that each data item is stored on two or more data farms (see “Bridge Router Interstitial Space Commuter 943”, FIG. 162; this is considered exemplary of a data storing and transferring assembly);
monitoring a state of health of each data farm by at least one of periodically pinging each data farm or receiving periodic heartbeat signals from each data farm,
the heartbeat signals including status information;
determining whether each data farm is online or offline based on the monitoring;
responsive to determining that an individual data farm has become offline,
replicating data items previously stored on the offline data farm to one or more additional data farms (see “Bridge Router Interstitial Space Commuter 943”, FIG. 162; this is considered exemplary of a data storing and transferring assembly) by contacting functioning data farms (see “Bridge Router Interstitial Space Commuter 943”, FIG. 162; this is considered exemplary of a data storing and transferring assembly) storing copies of the data items; and
recording, by an administrative module (record 50, [0037]), a quantity of data received or transmitted by the communication interface (“routers” [0142]) of each data farm.
Valentino teaches such solid state modules, specifically:
comprising solid state storage devices configured for reduced power consumption and heat generation (see “For the purposes of the present invention, the term "solid-state electronics" refers to those circuits or devices built entirely from solid materials” [0092]; note: solid-state drives are designed for reduced power consumption with no moving parts and flash memory which requiring less power to operate).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to modify the assembly of Brown by including the solid state drives as taught by Valentino in order to process data using a more cost effective storage assembly.
Kassanoff teaches an obvious support material deployable as claimed, specifically:
a backing material configured to support the data storage module (see “top panel… shelves” 8:62),
the backing material comprising a mesh substrate having a structure attachment configured to attach the mesh substrate to one or both of the adjacent wall studs (“top panel… side panels… shelves… display support panel… storage 112… mesh” 8:62-9:5), and
one or more electronic component attachments disposed on a major surface of the mesh substrate configured to secure the data storage module thereto (“support for connections between such elements” 8:60; this is recognized as “electronic component attachments” as broadly claimed).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to modify the assembly of Brown in view of Valentino by substituting mesh as the structural material as taught by Kassanoff in order to provide a cheap and breathable support layer as it is known in the art to provide ventilation where electronic devices are located.
Ransil teaches such obvious modules and intended uses for storage network components as those claimed, specifically:
replicating the received client data across at least two geographically dispersed data farms (“Replication may also be used to improve performance by allowing client query (read) requests to be distributed among two or more nodes.” 8:38) such that each data item is stored on two or more data farms (“searchable index and interface” 6:34);
monitoring a state of health of each data farm by at least one of periodically pinging each data farm or receiving periodic heartbeat signals from each data farm (see “If a node has not received a heartbeat message for another node for a period in excess of a specified threshold or time period (e.g., five minutes), the node may assume that the other node has failed” 60:62),
the heartbeat signals including status information (see “If a node has not received a heartbeat message for another node for a period in excess of a specified threshold or time period (e.g., five minutes), the node may assume that the other node has failed” 60:62; this is recognized as “status information” as broadly claimed);
determining whether each data farm is online or offline based on the monitoring (see “If a node has not received a heartbeat message for another node for a period in excess of a specified threshold or time period (e.g., five minutes), the node may assume that the other node has failed” 60:62; this is recognized as “status information” as broadly claimed);
responsive to determining that an individual data farm has become offline, replicating data items previously stored on the offline data farm (see “storage nodes that store replicas of a particular partition may cooperatively participate in a replication group, and group communications may be used within the group to propagate updates to the partition” 8:43) to one or more additional data farms by contacting functioning data farms storing copies of the data items.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to modify the assembly of Brown in view of Valentino and Kassanoff by substituting the various uses of accumulated as taught by Ransil in order to improve accessibility for users of the system.
Feng teaches data farms in buildings with a provision for monitoring traffic, specifically:
recording, by an administrative module (record 50, [0037]) (record 50, [0037]) , a quantity of data received or transmitted (transaction bank 22, FIG. 1) by the communication interface of each data farm (REGION 1, REGION 2 FIG. 1).
an administrative module (record 50, [0037]) configured to record a quantity of data received or transmitted by the communication interface of each data farm .
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to modify the assembly of Brown in view of Valentino. Kassanoff, and Ransil by including the record keeping apparatus as taught by Feng in order to monitor individual use of the system.
As per claim 28 Brown in view of Valentino. Kassanoff, Ransil and Feng teaches the limitations according to claim 27, and Feng further discloses further comprising the steps of:
recording, by the administrative module (record 50, [0037]), for each data farm,(i) a first quantity of data transmitted (see “the storage unit may update the record and post the update to a transaction bank” [0010]) by the communication interface (“routers” [0142]) of the data farm in response to a client-initiated storage request, retrieval request, restore request, or rewrite request; and
(ii) a second quantity of data (see “the storage unit may update the record and post the update to a transaction bank” [0010]) transmitted by the communication interface (“routers” [0142]) of the data farm as part of the replication of data items previously stored on a data farm determined to be offline,
wherein the first quantity of data is recorded separately from the second quantity of data (“assigned on a record-by-record basis” [0096]). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to modify the assembly of Brown in view of Valentino. Kassanoff, and Ransil by including the record keeping apparatus as taught by Feng in order to monitor individual use of the system.
As per claim 29 Brown in view of Valentino. Kassanoff, Ransil and Feng teaches the limitations according to claim 27, and Feng further discloses further comprising the steps of: managing compensation to property owners hosting the data farms (see “updates made in one record to all other replicas” [0009]; this is recognized as being configured to manage compensation as broadly claimed) based on the recorded quantity of data. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to modify the assembly of Brown in view of Valentino. Kassanoff, Ransil and Feng by including the record keeping apparatus as taught by Feng in order to monitor individual use of the system.
As per claim 38 Brown in view of Valentino, Kassanoff, Ransil and Feng teaches the limitations according to claim 27, and Feng further discloses wherein the server system comprises one or more remote data servers (see “distributed over many servers” [0032]), and a physical location of each of the remote data servers is not known to each of the data farms (see "both within a farm and across farms" [0041]; this is recognized as teaching "physical location… not known" as broadly claimed). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to modify the assembly of Brown in view of Valentino, Kassanoff, Ransil and Feng by including the capability of the assembly to operate without known precise locations of the data farms as taught by Feng in order to increase the applicability of the system to a larger region.
As per claim 39 Brown in view of Valentino, Kassanoff, Ransil and Feng teaches the limitations according to claim 27, and Brown further discloses the storage housing further comprises a controller configured to read and write data to and from the data storage module and to provide a status or state of health via the wireless transceivers (see “interactively controlled by any of the Occupied Space Commuters” [0035]; also “accessed by wired and wireless means” Cl. 1).
As per claim 44 Brown in view of Valentino, Kassanoff, Ransil and Feng teaches the limitations according to claim 27, and Brown further discloses wherein the non-datacenter building structures (“any type of…one or more spaces or rooms… two or more buildings or a national or international network of buildings linked together” [0120]; see also FIG. 164) comprise at least one of residential buildings, office buildings (“campus of mixed type enterprise buildings 939c” FIG. 164), or retail locations.
As per claim 51 the primary reference of Brown teaches a geographically dispersed distributed file storage system (“Enterprise Structure” title) for concealed data storage in non-datacenter building structures (“any type of…one or more spaces or rooms… two or more buildings or a national or international network of buildings linked together” [0120]; see also FIG. 164), comprising:
a plurality of data farms (see “Bridge Router Interstitial Space Commuter 943”, FIG. 162; this is considered exemplary of a data storing and transferring assembly) distributed across a plurality of separate non-datacenter building structures (“any type of…one or more spaces or rooms… two or more buildings or a national or international network of buildings linked together” [0120]; see also FIG. 164) at geographically dispersed locations ,
each data farm comprising:
a data storage module (see 943, near matrix site 170, top of FIG. 162) comprising
the data storage module positioned within a concealed location (see 943, near matrix site 170, top of FIG. 162; this is recognized as at least somewhat “concealed” as broadly claimed) of a respective non-datacenter building structure;
a storage housing (see rectangular outline as shown around 943, FIG. 162) configured to contain the data storage module, the storage housing (see rectangular outline as shown around 943, FIG. 162) including wireless transceivers (see “interactively controlled by any of the Occupied Space Commuters” [0035]; also “accessed by wired and wireless means” Cl. 1) positioned on multiple surfaces thereof (see “network of conductors and flexible circuits passes from node site to node site in various upgradable configurations, with or without passing through transceivers providing wireless communication between the modular-accessible-matrix site or modular accessible node site and the equipment, robot or person operating in the enterprise alterable distributed architectural multinetgridometry within any interstitial accommodation matrix formed between the ceiling, wall, partition, column or floor accessible membrane barrier” [0250]; this is recognized as teaching all of the components are wirelessly connected);
a local control module (“switches” [0142]) comprising a data protection module (“configuring devices” [0142]); and
a communication interface (“routers” [0142]) configured to connect the data farm [[and]]to a wide-area network;
a server system communicatively coupled to the plurality of data farms (see “Bridge Router Interstitial Space Commuter 943”, FIG. 162; this is considered exemplary of a data storing and transferring —a “communicatively coupled“— assembly) via the wide-area network,
Brown, however, but fails to explicitly disclose:
the data storage module comprising a solid state storage devices,
a backing material configured to support the data storage module, the backing material comprising a mesh substrate;
the server system comprising a storage network module configured to: maintain a directory of files stored across the plurality of data farms;
the server system being operable to manage data distribution by replicating data items across at least two geographically dispersed data farms;
monitor a state of health of each data farm by receiving periodic heartbeat signals therefrom; and
responsive to determining that an individual data farm has become offline,
replicate data items previously stored on the offline data farm to one or more additional data farms by contacting functioning data farms storing copies of the data items,
an administrative module configured to record a quantity of data received or transmitted by the communication interface of each data farm
wherein the administrative module is configured to maintain, for each data farm, separate accounting records for:
(i) a first quantity of data transmitted by the communication interface of the data farm in response to a client-initiated storage request, retrieval request, restore request, or rewrite request; and
(ii) a second quantity of data transmitted by the communication interface of the data farm as part of the replication of data items previously stored on a data farm determined to be offline. .
Valentino teaches such solid state modules, specifically:
the data storage module comprising a solid state storage devices (see “For the purposes of the present invention, the term "solid-state electronics" refers to those circuits or devices built entirely from solid materials” [0092]; note: solid-state drives are designed for reduced power consumption with no moving parts and flash memory which requiring less power to operate).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to modify the assembly of Brown by including the solid state drives as taught by Valentino in order to process data using a more cost effective storage assembly.
Kassanoff teaches an obvious support material deployable as claimed, specifically:
a backing material (see “top panel… shelves” 8:62) configured to support the data storage module, the backing material comprising a mesh substrate (“top panel… side panels… shelves… display support panel… storage 112… mesh” 8:62-9:5).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to modify the assembly of Brown in view of Valentino by substituting mesh as the structural material as taught by Kassanoff in order to provide a cheap and breathable support layer as it is known in the art to provide ventilation where electronic devices are located.
Ransil teaches such obvious modules and intended uses for storage network components as those claimed, specifically:
the server system comprising a storage network module (“Partitions” 8:34) configured to: maintain a directory (“searchable index and interface” 6:34) of files stored across the plurality of data farms;
the server system being operable to manage data distribution by replicating data items across at least two geographically dispersed data farms (“Replication may also be used to improve performance by allowing client query (read) requests to be distributed among two or more nodes.” 8:38);
monitor a state of health of each data farm by receiving periodic heartbeat signals therefrom (see “If a node has not received a heartbeat message for another node for a period in excess of a specified threshold or time period (e.g., five minutes), the node may assume that the other node has failed” 60:62); and
responsive to determining that an individual data farm has become offline (see “If a node has not received a heartbeat message for another node for a period in excess of a specified threshold or time period (e.g., five minutes), the node may assume that the other node has failed” 60:62),
replicate data items (see “storage nodes that store replicas of a particular partition may cooperatively participate in a replication group, and group communications may be used within the group to propagate updates to the partition” 8:43) previously stored on the offline data farm to one or more additional data farms by contacting functioning data farms storing copies of the data items.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to modify the assembly of Brown in view of Valentino and Kassanoff by substituting the various uses of accumulated as taught by Ransil in order to improve accessibility for users of the system.
Feng teaches data farms in buildings with a provision for monitoring traffic, specifically:
an administrative module (record 50, [0037]) configured to record a quantity of data received or transmitted by the communication interface of each data farm (transaction bank 22, FIG. 1);
wherein the administrative module is configured to maintain, for each data farm, separate accounting records for:
(i) a first quantity of data transmitted (see “the storage unit may update the record and post the update to a transaction bank” [0010]) by the communication interface (“routers” [0142]) of the data farm in response to a client-initiated storage request, retrieval request, restore request, or rewrite request; and
(ii) a second quantity of data transmitted (see “the storage unit may update the record and post the update to a transaction bank” [0010]) by the communication interface of the data farm as part of the replication of data items previously stored on a data farm determined to be offline. .
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to modify the assembly of Brown in view of Valentino. Kassanoff, and Ransil by including the record keeping apparatus as taught by Feng in order to monitor individual use of the system.
As per claim 52 Brown in view of Valentino, Kassanoff, Ransil and Feng teaches the limitations according to claim 51, and Feng further discloses the administrative
module is configured to manage compensation to property owners hosting the data farms (see “updates made in one record to all other replicas” [0009]; this is recognized as being configured to manage compensation as broadly claimed) based on the recorded quantity of data. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to modify the assembly of Brown in view of Valentino. Kassanoff, Ransil and Feng by including the record keeping apparatus as taught by Feng in order to monitor individual use of the system.
Claim 30 rejected under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable over Brown in view of Valentino, Kassanoff, Ransil and Feng as applied to claim 27 above and further in view of Chiu et al. US 20100306286 A1 (Chiu).
As per claim 30 Brown in view of Valentino, Kassanoff, Ransil and Feng teaches the limitations according to claim 27, and Ransil further discloses the step of replicating the received client data across at least two geographically dispersed data farms (“Replication may also be used to improve performance by allowing client query (read) requests to be distributed among two or more nodes.” 8:38). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to modify the assembly of Brown in view of Valentino, Kassanoff, Ransil and Feng by including the step of replicating as taught by Ransil as taught by Ransil in order to improve accessibility for users of the system.
The combination but fails to explicitly disclose:
selecting each of the at least two data farms using a Hadoop process.
Chiu teaches a cluster using a Hadoop process, specifically:
selecting each of the at least two data farms using a Hadoop process (“second Hadoop cluster… to process log data” [0014] ln. 4).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to modify the assembly of Brown in view of Valentino, Kassanoff, Ransil and Feng by including the Hadoop process as taught by Chiu in order to process data.
Claim 42 rejected under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable over Brown in view of Valentino, Kassanoff, Ransil and Feng as applied to claim 27 above and further in view of Van Rossum US 20060029093 A1.
As per claim 42 Brown in view of Valentino, Kassanoff, Ransil and Feng teaches the limitations according to claim 27, and Ransil further discloses the step of replicating the received client data across at least two geographically dispersed data farms ((“Replication may also be used to improve performance by allowing client query (read) requests to be distributed among two or more nodes.” 8:38). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to modify the assembly of Brown in view of Valentino, Kassanoff, Ransil and Feng by including the step of replicating as taught by Ransil as taught by Ransil in order to improve accessibility for users of the system.
The combination but fails to explicitly disclose:
selecting each of the at least two data farms using a BitTorrent process.
Van Rossum teaches information transferring using BitTorrent, specifically:
selecting each of the at least two data farms using a BitTorrent process (“peer-to-peer protocol may include a BitTorrent or equivalent protocol” Cl. 31).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to modify the assembly of Brown in view of Valentino, Kassanoff, Ransil and Feng by including the BitTorrent process as taught by Van Rossum in order to distribute files by a process capable of handling high transfer speeds.
Claim 53-54 rejected under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable over Brown in view of Ransil and Feng.
As per claim 53 the primary reference of Brown teaches a geographically dispersed distributed file storage system (“Enterprise Structure” title), comprising:
a plurality of geographically dispersed property-hosted data farms (see “Bridge Router Interstitial Space Commuter 943”, FIG. 162; this is considered exemplary of a data storing and transferring assembly), each property-hosted
data farm comprising a data storage module (see 943, near matrix site 170, top of FIG. 162), a communication interface (“routers” [0142]) between said data farm (see “Bridge Router Interstitial Space Commuter 943”, FIG. 162; this is considered exemplary) and a wide-area network (“wide area networks” [0142])) between the data farm
and a wide-area network (“wide area networks” [0142]), and a local control module (“switches” [0142]),
wherein at least a first property-hosted data
farm is associated with a first data farmer and is installed in an empty space or void of a building (see 943, near matrix site 170, top of FIG. 162);
one or more remote data servers (“servers” [0142]) configured to
receive client data from a primary source data client
through the wide-area network (“wide area networks” [0142]);
Brown, however, but fails to explicitly disclose:
a storage network module configured to assign at least a portion of the client data to the
first property-hosted data farm for storage, wherein the storage network module is configured to monitor availability of the first property-hosted data farm and, in response to determining that the first property-hosted data farm is unavailable, modify routing information so that new client data is not assigned to the first property-hosted data farm,
wherein the distributed file-storage system is configured to transfer data previously stored by the first property-hosted data farm to one or more additional property-hosted data farms as an internal redistribution operation after determining that the first property-hosted data farm is unavailable;
an administrative module configured to maintain separate accounting records for:
(i) a first quantity of data transferred in response to a client-initiated storage, retrieval, restore, or rewrite request; and
(ii) a second quantity of data transferred as part of the internal redistribution operation caused by the first property-hosted data farm being unavailable;
wherein the administrative module is configured to charge the primary source data client based on the first quantity of data and to exclude the second quantity of data from charges to the primary source data client, and
wherein the administrative module is configured to generate a compensation adjustment, penalty, or status notification for the first data farmer based at least in part on the first property-hosted data farm being determined unavailable.
Ransil teaches such obvious modules and intended uses for storage network components as those claimed, specifically:
a storage network module (“Partitions” 8:34) configured to assign at least a portion of the client data to the first property-hosted data farm for storage, wherein the storage network module (“Partitions” 8:34) is configured to monitor availability of the first property-hosted data farm and, in response to determining that the first property-hosted data farm is unavailable, modify routing information so that new client data is not assigned to the first property-hosted data farm (see “If a node has not received a heartbeat message for another node for a period in excess of a specified threshold or time period (e.g., five minutes), the node may assume that the other node has failed” 60:62),
wherein the distributed file-storage system is configured to transfer data previously stored by the first property-hosted data farm to one or more additional property-hosted data farms (see “The storage nodes in a replication group may have identical, or nearly identical, copies or replicas of the partitions. In one embodiment, updates to the partition(s) may be propagated to the storage nodes within the replication group using the gossip protocol. Therefore, "identical" may be subject to the limitations of the gossip protocol, which provides weak consistency. At any given point in time, the partitions within a replication group are not necessarily identical, but converge to be identical as the updates are propagated via the gossip protocol” 25:18) as an internal redistribution operation after determining that the first property-hosted data farm is unavailable (see “If a node has not received a heartbeat message for another node for a period in excess of a specified threshold or time period (e.g., five minutes), the node may assume that the other node has failed” 60:62);
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to modify the assembly of Brown in view of Valentino and Kassanoff by substituting the various uses of accumulated as taught by Ransil in order to improve accessibility for users of the system.
Feng teaches data farms in buildings with a provision for monitoring traffic as claimed, specifically:
an administrative module (record 50, [0037]) configured to maintain separate accounting records for:
(i) a first quantity of data transferred in response to a client-initiated storage, retrieval, restore, or rewrite request (see “the storage unit may update the record and post the update to a transaction bank” [0010]); and
(ii) a second quantity of data transferred as part of the internal redistribution operation caused by the first property-hosted data farm being unavailable (see ”after a failure, a storage unit 20 can recover lost data by copying tablets 60 from replicas in a remote region” [0035]);
wherein the administrative module is configured to charge the primary source data client based on the first quantity of data and to exclude the second quantity of data from charges to the primary source data client (see “the storage unit may update the record and post the update to a transaction bank” [0010]; this is recognized as being capable of charging source data, as broadly claimed), and
wherein the administrative module is configured to generate a compensation adjustment, penalty, or status notification (see “update the record and post the update to a transaction bank” [0010]; this is recognized as a status notification as broadly claimed) for the first data farmer based at least in part on the first property-hosted data farm being determined unavailable.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to modify the assembly of Brown in view of Ransil by including the record keeping apparatus as taught by Feng in order to monitor individual use of the system.
As per claim 54 Brown in view of Ransil by including the record keeping apparatus as taught by Feng teaches the limitations according to claim 53, and Brown further discloses the empty space or void is within a conventional building component selected from a duct, conduit, floor joist space (see 943, near matrix site 170, top of FIG. 162; this is recognized as a floor joist space as broadly claimed because it is a space where floor joists are located), hollow-core door, concrete slab void, raised floor, or false ceiling.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 21-30, 36-39, 42-44, 46, 48, 50-54 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
As per the argument (Page 16):
In other words, the entire building in Brown is intentionally designed around technology integration. The present application, on the other hand, does not aim to redesign an entire building as an integrated computing architecture. The present application is primarily directed to a distributed file storage system, where existing unused spaces in ordinary structures are opportunistically utilized.
the Examiner submits Applicant’s supposition that the “present application… does not aim to redesign an entire building” the Examiner submits the combination of references in the reject5ion were not relied upon to teach a redesign. The references were relied upon to teach a system for concealed data storage. At least the primary reference of Brown explicitly teaches “equipment… accommodated in the interstitial spaces of… ceilings, walls, partitions, columns, and floors of… wired and wireless inner accessible” structures.
Applicant’s argument that “That is, while Brown aims to maximize access, the present application aims to maximize concealment” (Page 17) is not persuasive because one cannot show nonobviousness by attacking references individually where the rejections are based on combinations of references. See In re Keller, 642 F.2d 413, 208 USPQ 871 (CCPA 1981); In re Merck & Co., 800 F.2d 1091, 231 USPQ 375 (Fed. Cir. 1986). The language of the claims does not define structure which “maximize(s) concealment” in a way which is not distinguished from the references or record.
As per the argument (Page 17):
Brown does not appear to disclose anything about monitoring data farm health and automatically re-replicating data when a particular data farm goes offline.
the Examiner submits Brown was not relied upon to teach monitoring data farm health.
As per Applicant’s supposition that (Page 17) “Feng does not disclose or suggest the use of non-datacenter building structures, such as ordinary residential or commercial buildings, for distributed file storage” the Examiner submits at least Brown teaches non-datacenter building structures.
As per the argument (Page 18):
Kassanoff does not disclose or suggest anything about data farms that include (i) solid state storage…wall stud
the Examiner submits Kassanoff was not relied upon to teach solid state storage.
As per Applicant’s supposition that (Page 19) “While Feng appears to disclose that the transaction bank 22 propagates updates made in one record to other replicas of the record, Feng does not disclose or suggest anything about the transaction bank 22 maintaining, for each storage unit, separate accounting records for data transmitted in response to a client-initiated storage request, retrieval request, restore request…” the Examiner submits Feng makes clear the assembly has the ability to “update the record and post the update to a transaction bank” [0010]. The Examiner submits the act of posting an update acknowledges at least some level of “maintaining” records.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any extension fee pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JOSEPH J SADLON whose telephone number is (571)270-5730. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F 9A-6P ET.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, BRIAN D MATTEI can be reached on (571)270-3238. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/JJS/Examiner, Art Unit 3635
/JJS/
/ANNA M MOMPER/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3619
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