DETAILED ACTION
In a communication received on 31 March 2026, the applicants amended claims 1, 6, 8, 13, 15, and 19.
Claims 1-20 are pending.
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 .
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1, 6, 8, 13, 15, and 19 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claim(s) 1, 5-8, 12-15, and 18-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kent (US 2003/0200373 A1) in view of Dang et al. (US 2012/0110222 A1), Casper et al. (US 2010/0030918 A1), and Warren et al. (US 2006/0230218 A1), and further in view of Wang et al. (US 2011/0142062 A1).
With respect to claim 1, Kent discloses: a method comprising:
determining, at a network switch (i.e., a peripheral circuit bridging a burst mode and single transfer mode bus interfaces in Kent, ¶0021-0030),
that a connected host, connected to the network switch, is a first burst (FB) capable network device (i.e., determine a device sends burst mode transfers as suggested by discriminating burst mode from single mode transfers by associated address signals in Kent, ¶0019);
establishing an FB emulation for the connected host at the network switch (i.e., in response to address signals indicating no support for burst mode bus interface, establishing a burst proxy allowing device on burst-mode to continue using burst even when the receiving device is non-burst in Kent, ¶0003, ¶0019);
storing the FB data as emulated data at the network switch (i.e., the burst data is stored in a first-in-first-out memory structure to be read by the single transfer mode bus in Kent, ¶0011, ¶0016, ¶0017);
transferring, by the network switch, the emulated data to the connected storage system; and (i.e., single transfer mode bus direct memory access request to the FIFO to receive the burst mode data in Kent, ¶0017)
Kent discloses writing a burst of data directly to buffers based on control registers indicating a remote address (¶0015). Kent do(es) not explicitly disclose first burst command with a first frame and data. Dang, in order to reducing overhead by allowing bursts of data and maintaining flexibility by allowing negotiation of enabling burst transfers (¶0010), discloses:
determining, based on the PRLI accept frame received at the network switch, that the connected storage system is not FB capable (i.e., inspecting the PRLI frames for a header supporting first burst capability during PRLI time; capability defined by having x bytes of data available indicated in Dang, ¶0034, ¶0039)
receiving, at the network switch, a FB operation comprising a FB write frame and FB data from the connected host destined to the connected storage system (i.e., initiator device sends write commands immediately followed by indicating up to x bytes of data available in Dang, ¶0034).
Based on Kent in view of Dang, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to utilize the teachings of Dang to improve upon those of Kent in order to reducing overhead by allowing bursts of data and maintaining flexibility by allowing negotiation of enabling burst transfers.
Kent discloses DMA transfers to and from the FIFO may be set as flags to indicate completion (¶0130). Kent do(es) not explicitly disclose indicate completion to the sender. Dang, in order to reducing overhead by allowing bursts of data and maintaining flexibility by allowing negotiation of enabling burst transfers (¶0010), discloses: indicating, by the network switch, a completion of the FB operation to the connected host (i.e., status messages indicate to the initiator that the write operations have competed successfully in Dang, ¶0037).
Based on Kent in view of Dang, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to utilize the teachings of Dang to improve upon those of Kent in order to reducing overhead by allowing bursts of data and maintaining flexibility by allowing negotiation of enabling burst transfers.
Kent discloses proxy for bridging burst mode operable bus and single transfer mode bus when one of the devices cannot support the burst mode (¶0003). Kent and Dang do(es) not explicitly disclose the following. Casper, in order to reduce sending of multiple commands and communications by supporting conditional execution of transport (¶0028), discloses:
[a PRLI accept frame] (i.e., sending a PRLI accept frame including information defining communication parameters in Casper, ¶0053);
after marking the PRLI accept frame, transmitting the marked PRLI accept frame from the network switch to the connected host (i.e., first burst size field is configured to be non-zero to indicate first burst capability upstream in Casper, ¶0067)
[First Burst capability corresponding to frames] (i.e., specific bits and flags in the PRLI frame which indicate whether burst mode should proceed with XFER_RDY and first burst size flags suggesting FB capability in Casper, ¶0061, ¶0067).
Based on Kent in view of Dang, and further in view of Casper, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to utilize the teachings of Casper to improve upon those of Kent in order to reduce sending of multiple commands and communications by supporting conditional execution of transport.
Kent discloses a proxy between burst-mode and single transfer buses, host, and target, which receives the frames first (¶0003). Kent, Dang, and Casper do(es) not explicitly disclose the following. Warren, in order to offload low level commands at the switch level (¶0035), discloses:
receiving, at the network switch and from a connected storage system connected to the network switch, a process login (PRLI) accept frame before the PRLI accept frame reaches the connected host (i.e., FAST engine intercepts frames and generate frames in return to appear as a port to the initiator; sets a bit to indicate support for two types of frames in Warren, ¶0003);
marking, at the network switch, the PRLI accept frame from the connected storage system as FB capable (i.e., FAST switch generates response to initiator’s frames corresponding to PRLI with a type code in Warren, ¶0084); and
rewriting, at the network switch, metadata in the FB write frame to indicate a non-FB transfer (i.e., frame translation by modifying the header of received frames and sending over a different protocol in Warren, ¶0034).
Based on Kent in view of Dang and Casper, and further in view of Warren, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to utilize the teachings of Warren to improve upon those of Kent in order to offload low level commands at the switch level.
Kent discloses a proxy between burst-mode and single transfer buses, host, and target, which receives the frames first (¶0003). Kent, Dang, Casper, and Warren do not disclose the following. Wang, In order to improve versatility and technical life by avoiding dual stack implementation for two systems which are not fully compatible (¶0003), discloses:
(marking, at the network switch) including an indication of a size of FB operations allowed from the connected host (i.e., negotiating FIrstBurstLength parameter, solicitation message with FCoE size parameter; suggests a gateway transparently translating communications from one device to another as an intermediary to facilitate compatibility; gateway modifies packets to rewrite fields in transit in Wang, ¶0021-0023, ¶0048).
Based on Kent in view of Dang, Casper, and Warren, and further in view of Wang, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to utilize the teachings of Wang to improve upon those of Kent in order to improve versatility and technical life by avoiding dual stack implementation for two systems which are not fully compatible.
With respect to claim 5, Kent discloses a peripheral circuit to interface between burst and single transfer buses (¶0021-0030). Kent do(es) not explicitly disclose determining burst capabilities. Dang, in order to reducing overhead by allowing bursts of data and maintaining flexibility by allowing negotiation of enabling burst transfers (¶0010), discloses: the method of claim 1, further comprising:
intercepting host PRLI frames from the connected host (i.e., negotiation communications between initiator and target at process login time in Dang, ¶0034),
wherein determining the connected host is a FB capable network device comprises determining FB capability from the host PRLI frames (i.e., initiator can signal to target during negotiation support for burst of FCP data if XFR_RDY is disabled in Dang, ¶0034), and
forwarding the host PRLI frames to the connected storage system (i.e., negotiation during PRLI login time indicates that target device supports XFR_RDY so that target indicates to sender when it can receive data in Dang, ¶0034).
Based on Kent in view of Dang, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to utilize the teachings of Dang to improve upon those of Kent in order to reducing overhead by allowing bursts of data and maintaining flexibility by allowing negotiation of enabling burst transfers.
With respect to claim 6, Kent discloses: the method of claim 5, wherein establishing the FB emulation comprises:
partitioning memory at the network switch into a plurality of memory buffers based on a plurality of FB operation sizes (i.e., active channels and respective FIFO are selected by round robin algorithm according to a threshold burst size corresponding to each FIFO in Kent, ¶0148)
With respect to claim 7, Kent discloses: the method of claim 1, wherein storing the emulated data in the connected storage system comprises:
forwarding the FB write frame to the connected storage system (i.e., writing a burst of data directly to buffers based on control registers indicating a remote address in Kent, ¶0015);
transmitting the emulated data to the connected storage system (i.e., single transfer mode bus requests the data from the FIFO's in Kent, ¶0017);
receiving a storage success frame from the connected storage system (i.e., DMA transfers to and from the FIFO may be set as flags to indicate completion in Kent, ¶0130).
Kent discloses the burst data is stored in a first-in-first-out memory structure to be read by the single transfer mode bus (¶0011, ¶0016, ¶0017). Kent do(es) not explicitly disclose the following. Dang, in order to reducing overhead by allowing bursts of data and maintaining flexibility by allowing negotiation of enabling burst transfers (¶0010), discloses:
receiving a transfer ready frame identifying the emulated data as ready for storage from the connected storage system (i.e., target sends an XFR_RDY to indicate readiness to receive burst of data in Dang, ¶0034); and
wherein indicating the completion of the FB operation to the connected host comprises forwarding the storage success frame to the connected host (i.e., status messages indicate to the initiator that the write operations have competed successfully in Dang, ¶0037).
Based on Kent in view of Dang, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to utilize the teachings of Dang to improve upon those of Kent in order to reducing overhead by allowing bursts of data and maintaining flexibility by allowing negotiation of enabling burst transfers.
With respect to claim 8, the limitation(s) of claim 8 are similar to those of claim(s) 1. Therefore, claim 8 is rejected with the same reasoning as claim(s) 1.
With respect to claim 12, the limitation(s) of claim 12 are similar to those of claim(s) 5. Therefore, claim 12 is rejected with the same reasoning as claim(s) 5.
With respect to claim 13, the limitation(s) of claim 13 are similar to those of claim(s) 5 and 6. Therefore, claim 13 is rejected with the same reasoning as claim(s) 5 and 6.
With respect to claim 14, the limitation(s) of claim 14 are similar to those of claim(s) 7. Therefore, claim 14 is rejected with the same reasoning as claim(s) 7.
With respect to claim 15, the limitation(s) of claim 15 are similar to those of claim(s) 1. Therefore, claim 15 is rejected with the same reasoning as claim(s) 1.
With respect to claim 18, the limitation(s) of claim 18 are similar to those of claim(s) 5. Therefore, claim 18 is rejected with the same reasoning as claim(s) 5.
With respect to claim 19, the limitation(s) of claim 19 are similar to those of claim(s) 5 and 6. Therefore, claim 19 is rejected with the same reasoning as claim(s) 5 and 6.
With respect to claim 20, the limitation(s) of claim 20 are similar to those of claim(s) 7. Therefore, claim 20 is rejected with the same reasoning as claim(s) 7.
Claim(s) 2-4, 9-11, 16, and 17 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kent (US 2003/0200373 A1) in view of Dang et al. (US 2012/0110222 A1), Casper et al. (US 2010/0030918 A1), Warren et al. (US 2006/0230218 A1), and Wang et al. (US 2011/0142062 A1)., and further in view of Yang et al. (US 2005/0270976 A1).
With respect to claim 2, Kent discloses the burst data is stored in a first-in-first-out memory structure to be read by the single transfer mode bus (¶0011, ¶0016, ¶0017). Kent, Dang, Casper, Warren, and Wang do(es) not explicitly disclose network processing unit for processing and buffering. Yang, in order to improve congestion management and flow control (¶0007), discloses: the method of claim 1, wherein the emulated data is stored in a network processing unit (NPU) on the network switch (i.e., a packet forwarding module between a transmission and receiving end for forwarding packets in Yang, ¶0010, and
wherein the NPU is formatted to provide compute and frame buffering functions for the network switch (i.e., packet forwarding module buffers received packets and provides forwarding of packets in Yang, ¶0042).
Based on Kent in view of Dang, Casper, Warren, and Wang, and further in view of Yang, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to utilize the teachings of Yang to improve upon those of Kent in order to improve congestion management and flow control.
With respect to claim 3, Kent discloses: the method of claim 2, further comprising:
providing standard switching functions for storage functions between the connected host and the connected storage system. (i.e., burst mode interface can bypass FIFO's for single transfer mode transfers to the singe transfer mode bus in Kent, ¶0019).
Kent discloses writing a burst of data directly to buffers based on control registers indicating a remote address (¶0015). Kent, Dang, Casper, Warren, and Wang do(es) not explicitly disclose the following. Yang, in order to improve congestion management and flow control (¶0007), discloses:
receiving a second FB operation from the connected host (i.e., packets received by sending device overrun the transmission port buffer in Yang, ¶0043);
determining the NPU is not ready for the second FB operation, wherein the NPU is not ready when then NPU does not have sufficient memory to complete the second FB operation or when the NPU is in a reset protocol (i.e., port buffer threshold packet number has been exceeded in Yang, ¶0043);
pausing the FB emulation for the connected host (i.e., generating a hardware back pressure signal that propagates back to the sending device in Yang, ¶0043).
Based on Kent in view of Dang, Casper, Warren, and Wang, and further in view of Yang, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to utilize the teachings of Yang to improve upon those of Kent in order to improve congestion management and flow control.
With respect to claim 4, Kent discloses writing a burst of data directly to buffers based on control registers indicating a remote address (¶0015). Kent, Dang, Casper, Warren, and Wang do(es) not explicitly disclose the following. Yang, in order to improve congestion management and flow control (¶0007), discloses: the method of claim 1, further comprising:
detecting a congestion condition at the connected storage system (i.e., determining data packets in the port buffer is exceeded in Yang, ¶0043);
indicating the congestion condition to the connected host to cause the connected host to pause FB operations (i.e., hardware back pressure signal propagates to the sender causing a pause in transmitting data to the receiving end in Yang, ¶0043);
detecting the congestion condition has subsided (i.e., determining that the current data packets fall below threshold, generate signal to stop execution of flow control in Yang, ¶0046); and
indicating a resumption of the FB operations to the connected host. (i.e., back pressure signal signals to stop flow control that was initiated in Yang, ¶0046).
Based on Kent in view of Dang, Casper, Warren, and Wang, and further in view of Yang, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to utilize the teachings of Yang to improve upon those of Kent in order to improve congestion management and flow control.
With respect to claim 9, the limitation(s) of claim 9 are similar to those of claim(s) 2. Therefore, claim 9 is rejected with the same reasoning as claim(s) 2.
With respect to claim 10, the limitation(s) of claim 10 are similar to those of claim(s) 3. Therefore, claim 10 is rejected with the same reasoning as claim(s) 3.
With respect to claim 11, the limitation(s) of claim 11 are similar to those of claim(s) 4. Therefore, claim 11 is rejected with the same reasoning as claim(s) 4.
With respect to claim 16, the limitation(s) of claim 16 are similar to those of claim(s) 2 and 3. Therefore, claim 16 is rejected with the same reasoning as claim(s) 2 and 3.
With respect to claim 17, the limitation(s) of claim 17 are similar to those of claim(s) 4. Therefore, claim 17 is rejected with the same reasoning as claim(s) 4.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SHERMAN L LIN whose telephone number is (571)270-7446. The examiner can normally be reached Monday through Friday 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM (Eastern).
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Joon Hwang can be reached on 571-272-4036. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
Sherman Lin
4/4/2026
/S. L./Examiner, Art Unit 2447
/JOON H HWANG/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2447
Prosecution Insights