CTNF 18/102,237 CTNF 86984 Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status 07-03-aia AIA 15-10-aia 1. The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA. Election/Restrictions 2. NO restrictions warranted at initial time of filing for patent. Information Disclosure Statement 06-52 3. The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 01/27/2023, the submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner. Oath/Declaration 4. Applicant’s Oath was filed on 01/27/2023. Drawings 5. Applicant’s drawings filed on 01/27/2023 has been inspected and is in compliance with MPEP 608.01. Specification 6. Applicant’s specification filed on 01/27/2023 has been inspected and is in compliance with MPEP 608.02. Claim Objections 7. NO objections warranted at initial time of filing for patent. Remarks 8. Examiner request Applicant review relevant prior art under the conclusion of this office action. Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103 07-20-aia AIA 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. 07-23-aia AIA 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. 07-21-aia AIA 9. Claim s 1-3, 5-10, 12-17, 19 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over U.S. Patent No 7779220 hereinafter Pione in view of U.S. Publication No. 20070101442 hereinafter Boudurant . As per claim 1, Pione discloses: A method for preventing unauthorized access to tape data ( Col. 1 Lines 60-62 “The present invention, in particular embodiments, is directed to methods, apparatuses and systems directed to the authentication of cartridge-based storage media.”), the method comprising: maintaining, by a validation server, a lock on a tape drive ( Col. 9 Lines 23- 29 “ Method 800 of FIG. 9 illustrates an authentication process that may be implemented by carrier logic of carrier 200 . When MCU 40 detects insertion (802) of a cartridge, it queries the drive for serial number and model number strings (803) via an Identify command. Next, the MCU 40 determines if the drive of cartridge 100 is locked by default (804).”); detecting, by the validation server, loading of a tape into the tape drive for writing by a requesting server ( Col. 9 Lines 23-28 “ When MCU 40 detects insertion (802) of a cartridge , it queries the drive for serial number and model number strings (803) via an Identify command. ”); confirming, by the validation server, that the requesting server is authorized and releasing, by the validation server, the lock in response to confirming authorization of the requesting server ( Col. 9 Lines 30-38 “If the cartridge drive is locked by default, MCU 40 applies (808) an intentionally incorrect password string and rejects the cartridge drive (810, 806) if the drive unlocks. If the drive does not unlock, MCU 40 generates (814) a password string that is used to unlock (816) the drive. If the drive does not unlock, MCU 40 rejects (806) the cartridge 100. In some implementations, the MCU 40 may pass error messages to the host controller or computing system to which carrier 200 is attached.”) Pione does not disclose: confirming, that the requesting server is authorized to write to the tape Boudurant discloses: confirming, that the requesting server is authorized to write to the tape ( para 0018 “A password authentication feature of the data cartridge can be activated to require a password before reading or writing data to the cartridge 124.”) Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify methods, apparatuses and systems directed to the authentication of cartridge-based storage media of Pione to include confirming, that the requesting server is authorized to write to the tape, as taught by Boudurant. The motivation would have to an authorization system for authorizing access to a data cartridge (Boudurant paragraph 0016) As per claim 2, Pione in view of Boudurant discloses: The method of claim 1, wherein the validation server is maintained in a separate environment from the requesting server ( Boudurant Fig. 1a, para 0017 “With reference to FIG. 1A, a block diagram of an embodiment of a cartridge security system 100-1 is shown that is interfaced with a data cartridge 124. The cartridge security system 100 secures data cartridges 124 such that authentication is required for use of the data cartridge 124. Although the figure only shows a single data cartridge 124, it is understood that the cartridge security system 100 would program many data cartridges 124 before releasing them in the stream of commerce. They could be programmed serially or in parallel, depending on the manufacturing configuration. This embodiment 100-1 includes an authorizing system 128-1 and a cartridge programmer 132 shown coupled to a data cartridge 124. ” Pione discloses a validation server, but Boudurant discloses validation server is maintained in a separate environment from the requesting server. The motivation would have to an authorization system for authorizing access to a data cartridge (Boudurant paragraph 0016). ”). As per claim 3, Pione in view of Boudurant discloses: The method of claim 1, wherein the validation server is not accessible using the same authentication methods used to access the requesting server ( Boudurant Para 0019 “The authorizing system 128-1 manages the security for the cartridge security system 100.” Para 0021 “Whenever the data cartridge is encountered, the authorizing system 128-1 can be queried for the key after the unique identification is produced.” Pione discloses a validation server, but Boudurant discloses validation server is maintained in a separate environment from the requesting server. The motivation would have to an authorization system for authorizing access to a data cartridge (Boudurant paragraph 0016). ”). As per claim 5, Pione in view of Boudurant discloses: The method of claim 1, wherein the tape drive is accessible through an interface selected from the group consisting of RDMA over Converged Ethernet (RoCE), Parallel SCSI, and Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) ( Boudurant para 0018, Pione discloses tape drive, but Boudurant discloses SCSI. The motivation would have to an authorization system for authorizing access to a data cartridge (Boudurant paragraph 0016). ”) As per claim 6, Pione in view of Boudurant discloses: The method of claim 1, wherein maintaining the lock on the tape drive comprises generating the lock in response to detecting the tape drive coming online ( Pione Col. 7 Lines 14-25 “In yet another implementation, carrier controller 201 sends an intentionally-incorrect password to a locked HDD 70 upon insertion of cartridge 100 into carrier 200.”). As per claim 7, Pione in view of Boudurant discloses: The method of claim 1, wherein the lock prevents access to the tape drive by the requesting server ( Col. 6 Line 66 – Col. 7 Line 13 “ Upon insertion of a locked cartridge-based , hard disc drive into a carrier, carrier logic obtains the hard disc drive's serial number and model number strings and generates a password additionally using a base string . In particular implementations, the base string is a proprietary secret string coded into the carrier logic (such as firmware, software, or hardware logic). The carrier logic then attempts to unlock/authenticate the cartridge-based hard disc drive with the newly-generated password. Authentication occurs with an authorized cartridge as the password contained in the associated hard disc drive will match the password sent by the carrier logic. Unauthorized cartridge passwords are typically generated without knowledge of the base string or password-generation algorithm. Due to that, compatibility with associated carriers is prevented .”). As per claim 8, the implementation of the method of claim 1 will execute the computer program product (Boudurant paragraph 0014). The claim is analyzed with respect to claim 1. As per claim 9, the claim is analyzed with respect to claim 2. As per claim 10, the claim is analyzed with respect to claim 3. As per claim 12, the claim is analyzed with respect to claim 5. As per claim 13, the claim is analyzed with respect to claim 6. As per claim 14, the claim is analyzed with respect to claim 7. As per claim 15, the implementation of the method of claim 1 will execute the system. The claim is analyzed with respect to claim 1. As per claim 16, the claim is analyzed with respect to claim 2. As per claim 17, the claim is analyzed with respect to claim 3. As per claim 19, the claim is analyzed with respect to claim 5. As per claim 20, the claim is analyzed with respect to claim 6 . 07-21-aia AIA 10. Claim s 4, 11, and 18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Pione in view of Boudurant, and further in view of U.S. Publication No. 20060098572 hereinafter Zhang . As per claim 4, Pione in view of Boudurant discloses: The method of claim 1, wherein the tape drive environment ( Col. 9 Lines 23- 29 “ Method 800 of FIG. 9 illustrates an authentication process that may be implemented by carrier logic of carrier 200 . When MCU 40 detects insertion (802) of a cartridge, it queries the drive for serial number and model number strings (803) via an Identify command. Next, the MCU 40 determines if the drive of cartridge 100 is locked by default (804).”); Pione in view of Boudurant does discloses: tape drive is located within a SAN Zhang discloses: tape drive is located within a SAN ( para 0009 “In a SAN environment, storage devices (e.g., tape drives and RAID arrays) and servers are generally interconnected via various switches and appliances.”) Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify methods, apparatuses and systems directed to the authentication of cartridge-based storage media of Pione to include tape drive is located within a SAN, as taught by Zhang. The motivation would have to have storage devices (e.g., tape drives and RAID arrays) and servers interconnected via various switches and appliances. As per claim 11, the claim is analyzed with respect to claim 4. As per claim 18, the claim is analyzed with respect to claim 4 . Conclusion 07-96 AIA 11. The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. A. U.S. Publication No. 20200216884 discloses paragraph 0229 “In one embodiment, the user must interact with the device using an authentication software application, “app”, wherein a smartphone or tablet individual to the user is used with the cartridge and cartridge reader. In this embodiment, the cartridge cannot be used unless it receives a unique user identifier which locks that disposable cartridge to user. In one embodiment, the user must provide a PIN/fingerprint to the app running on their personal computing device and this then transmits this code to the reader (or cartridge directly in case of a wireless silicon chip) which then writes this individual code to the chip. A suitable technology for this communication could be near field communication chips on the reader and personal device. Advantageously, any data generated by the cartridge is automatically associated with the user. The unique, secure identifier is stored on the chip within the disposable cartridge. On completion of the assay, the chip will not return its data unless it is presented by the matching code on the device used by the individual user to generate the code stored on the cartridge (e.g. using NFC). The chip data is transferred to the user device and all processing of the data (e.g. generation of an output or secure transfer of the data to a storage system, including third parties) is handled by software on the user device. Additionally, the cartridge may be safely disposed of as a third party recovering the cartridge will not be able to read the cartridge without the individual user device. This embodiment can securely lever off the security features, processing power and connectivity of the personal device, thus simplifying the technology which needs to be on the reader itself, keeping the cost of that device low—it is a “slave” for the cartridge which may program its movement and a simple interpreter for the external personal device which handles data processing, transmission and interpretation for the user.” Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to GARY S GRACIA whose telephone number is (571)270-5192. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 9am-6pm. 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. 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If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000. /GARY S GRACIA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2499 Application/Control Number: 18/102,237 Page 2 Art Unit: 2499 Application/Control Number: 18/102,237 Page 3 Art Unit: 2499 Application/Control Number: 18/102,237 Page 4 Art Unit: 2499 Application/Control Number: 18/102,237 Page 5 Art Unit: 2499 Application/Control Number: 18/102,237 Page 6 Art Unit: 2499 Application/Control Number: 18/102,237 Page 7 Art Unit: 2499 Application/Control Number: 18/102,237 Page 8 Art Unit: 2499 Application/Control Number: 18/102,237 Page 9 Art Unit: 2499 Application/Control Number: 18/102,237 Page 10 Art Unit: 2499 Application/Control Number: 18/102,237 Page 11 Art Unit: 2499 Application/Control Number: 18/102,237 Page 12 Art Unit: 2499