DETAILED ACTION
This action is responsive to the pending claims, 1, 6-12, 15-19, received 2 January 2026. Claims 5 and 14 have been canceled. Accordingly, the detailed action of claims 1, 6-12, 15-19 is as follows:
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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements (IDS) submitted on 01/13/2026; 02/03/2026; 02/13/2026 are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statements are being considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claims 12 and 19 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kang et al (US 20200226077 A1, hereafter referred to as Kang) in view of U et al (US 20220191160 A1, hereafter referred to as U) in view Shtivelman et al (US 20200356498 A1, hereafter referred toa s Shtivelman).
Regarding claim 12, Kang-U-Shtivelman, as combined above regarding claim 1, teaches a computing device comprising:
a computer bus (Kang [0029] discloses a local fabric comprises a data bus);
a local host system connected to the computer bus (Kang [0029] (104) discloses a server); and
a storage product manufactured as a computer component (Kang [0046] discloses network interface device), the storage product comprising:
a random-access memory (Kang [0048]);
a register file configured to store a message selection configuration (Kang [0067, 0076-0077};
a network interface (Kang [0029]);
a bus connector connected to the computer bus (Kang [0029] teaches a data bus to which the storage devices are connected);
a processing device (Kang [0046-0047]); and
a local storage device having a storage capacity accessible via the network interface (Kang [0029, 0050] discloses storage devices)
receive a first message, selected by the processing device according to the message selection configuration and from incoming messages received via the network interface of the storage product (Kang [0045] discloses receiving a message and determining the message as an administrative or fabric command based on the stored target control logic. Additionally, [0066] teaches receiving a discovery or identify request and routes the discovery request to the target host);
generate, as a result of processing the first message in the local host system, one or more second messages (Kang [0066] teaches the target processor identifying (generating) information corresponding to the discovery request);
wherein the first message is selected for processing by the storage application according to the first criteria (Kang [0066, 0076] discloses identifying a admin command in the incoming message and routing to the target server);
wherein third messages are selected according to the second criteria from the incoming messages for bypassing the local host system in processing (Kang [0077] discloses determining a command according to the information stored in memory, wherein the command is an I/o command and is routed on a different path directly to the storage device rather than the path to the storage server taken my administrative or fabric management commands [0045, 0050]);
However, Kang does not explicitly teach wherein the local host system is configured via a storage application; send, through the bus connector, the one or more second messages to the local storage device to generate, for the one or more second messages respectively, one or more second responses;
receive the one or more second responses from the storage product; generate, based on the one or more second responses, a first response to the first message; and send, through the bus connector, the first response for transmission by the network interface; wherein the storage application is further configured to receive user inputs to specify first criteria in the message selection configuration; wherein the first message is selected for processing by the storage application according to the first criteria; wherein the one or more second responses are selected for processing by the storage application according to the first criteria; wherein the storage application is further configured to receive user inputs to specify second criteria in the message selection configuration.
U, in an analogous art, teaches wherein the local host system is configured via a storage application (U [0096-0097] discloses a rules engine configure to receive administrator input for message selection and filtering)
wherein the storage application is further configured to receive user inputs to specify first criteria in the message selection configuration (U [0096-0097] discloses an admin configuring criteria into rule filtering engine);
wherein the storage application is further configured to receive user inputs to specify second criteria in the message selection configuration (U [0096-0097] discloses a rules engine configure to receive administrator input for message selection and filtering).
It would have been obvious for a person having ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify Kang in view of U in order to configure and write the administrative command message criteria information used to select a first message for processing by the local host system according to the administrative command message criteria, as taught by Kang, to be configured by the storage application wherein the storage application is further configured to receive user inputs to specify first criteria in the message selection configuration and the storage application is further configured to receive user inputs to specify second criteria in the message selection configuration, as taught by U.
KSR rationale C, use of a known technique (configuration of criteria by an administrator, as taught by U) to improve similar methods (configuration of administrative command criteria, as taught by Kang) in the same way (configuration of message criteria used in message selection or filtering, as taught by U) supports the conclusion of obviousness.
However, Kang-U does not explicitly teach send, through the bus connector, the one or more second messages to the local storage device to generate, for the one or more second messages respectively, one or more second responses; receive the one or more second responses from the storage product; generate, based on the one or more second responses, a first response to the first message; and send, through the bus connector, the first response for transmission by the network interface; wherein the one or more second responses are selected for processing by the storage application according to the first criteria.
Shtivelman, in an analogous art, teaches send, through the bus connector, the one or more second messages to the local storage device (Shtivelman [0045, 0046] discloses automatically issuing commands to a storage system to discover connectivity type based on a received discovery request) to generate, for the one or more second messages respectively, one or more second responses (Shtivelman [Fig 4-116 and 0050] discloses a response to the discovery command reported back);
receive the one or more second responses from the storage product (Shtivelman [Fig 4-116 and 0050] discloses a response to the discovery command reported back);
generate, based on the one or more second responses, a first response to the first message (Shtivelman [Fig 4-124, 0051] discloses generating a command based on the response, as reported, from the storage system); and
send, through the bus connector, the first response for transmission by the network interface (Shtivelman [Fig 4-124]);
wherein the one or more second responses are selected for processing by the storage application according to the first criteria (Shtivelman [0050 and 0055] discloses providing responses to the local host system according to the discovery protocol).
It would have been obvious for a person having ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify Kang in view of Shtivelman in order to configure the storage application receiving a first message, according to a message selection configuration from incoming messages received via a network interface of the storage product and responses, as taught by Kang-U, to further including the specifics of providing, by the storage application running in the local host system, the one or more second messages to the storage product to generate one or more second responses to the one or more second messages respectively; receiving, in the storage application running in the local host system, the one or more second responses from the storage product; generating, by the storage application based on the one or more second responses, a first response to the first message, as taught by Shtivelman as well as configure the message selection configuration, as taught by Kang-U, be applied to the response messages as taught by Shtivelman.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated in order to map a target volume of the storage system to a host reducing or eliminating delays resulting from a change in connectivity type improving the efficiency of the storage system (Shtivelman [0040]).
Regarding claim 19, Kang-U-Shtivelman, as combined above regarding claim 1, teaches a non-transitory computer storage medium storing instructions of a storage application which, when executed in a host system, causes the host system to perform a method the method comprising:
receiving, in a user interface of the storage application, user inputs (U [0096]).
The remaining limitations of claim 19, do not teach or further limit over the limitations presented above with respect to claim 12.
Therefore, the remaining limitations of claim 19 are rejected for the same reasons set forth above regarding claim 12.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see Remarks pg 4-5, filed 02 January 2026, with respect to claim 1 have been fully considered and are persuasive. The 103 rejection of claims 1, 6-11 has been withdrawn.
Regarding claims 12, 15-18 and 19, the applicant provided no arguments.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1, 6-11 allowed.
Claim 15-18 objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). 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 nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) 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 SHEAN TOKUTA whose telephone number is (571)272-5145. The examiner can normally be reached M-TH 630-430.
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SHEAN TOKUTA
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2446
/SHEAN TOKUTA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2446