Detailed Action
1. This office action is in response to communication filed June 8, 2023. Claims 1-20 are currently pending and claim 1, 8, and 15 are the independent claims.
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
2. The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
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.
3. Claims 1, 3-15, and 17-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Qian et al. (U.S. Patent No. 11,119,783) – hereinafter “Qian”, in view of Simeonov et al. (U.S. Patent No. 11,456,912) – hereinafter “Simeonov”.
Regarding independent claim 1, Qian discloses:
A management node comprising:
a processor; and
memory coupled to the processor, wherein the memory comprises a resource management module to: (Abstract “A data center management system includes at least one processor and a memory coupled to the at least one processor. The memory stores resource records that include (i) a name and (ii) dependency data of the resource.”) The citation is interpreted to read on the claimed invention because under broadest reasonable interpretation, the data center management system includes processor(s) and memory coupled to the processor(s).
prior to the resource entering the maintenance schedule, determine a set of resources having a dependency relationship with the resource based on a preselected category; and (Abstract “The memory stores instructions that, upon execution, cause the at least one processor to: in response to receiving a selection of one or more resources, (i) generate a resource group based on the dependency data of the selected one or more resources, (ii) organize resources in the resource group into one or more ordered components based on dependency data of each resource in the resource group” and Col. 6, Line 60 – Col. 7, Line 10 “The operations administrator may also use the operator portal 205 to set the dependencies of a selected resource. The operator portal 205 prompts the operations administrator to indicate the registered resources that are parent resources of the selected resource and the registered resources that are child resources of the selected resource. A parent resource is a resource that must be stopped in a data center before the selected resource is stopped in the same data center. A child resource is a resource that must be started in a data center before the selected resource is started in the same data center. The operator portal 205 stores the indicated dependencies for the selected resource by storing the dependencies in the resource record that corresponds to the selected resource in the management data store 215. In some implementations, the operator portal 205 also updates the resource records of the indicated parent and child resources in the management data store 215 to include their respective dependencies with respect to the selected resource.”) The citation is interpreted to read on the claimed invention because under broadest reasonable interpretation, the operations administrator sets the dependencies of resources and creates resource groups based on the dependency data to organize resources.
Qian does not explicitly disclose:
determine a maintenance schedule of a resource in a data center;
during the maintenance schedule of the resource:
mark that the resource and the set of resources having the dependency relationship with the resource are in a maintenance mode; and
upon marking the resource and the set of resources, suspend monitoring of the resource and the set of resources.
However, Simeonov discloses:
determine a maintenance schedule of a resource in a data center; (Col. 7, Lines 19-28 “FIG. 4 shows weighting table 400 of information sources versus maintenance types according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. In the illustrated embodiment, the rows in table 400 are related to the different maintenance types (i.e., installation or release of a configuration item, update or regularly scheduled maintenance on a configuration item, and failure of a configuration item), and the columns in table 400 are related to the different information sources (i.e., IPC Tool, instant messaging service, online forum or community, micro-service log in, and change log).”) The citation is interpreted to read on the claimed invention because under broadest reasonable interpretation, the maintenance schedule is outlined in the table in Fig. 4.
during the maintenance schedule of the resource:
mark that the resource and the set of resources having the dependency relationship with the resource are in a maintenance mode; and (Col. 3, Line 63 – Col. 4, Line 3 “FIG. 2 graphically demonstrates exemplary lines of communication that some of the configuration items have with other configuration items in some embodiments of computing infrastructure 200. More specifically, when a configuration item is being maintained, other configuration items can be affected due to their communication with and/or reliance on the configuration item being serviced.” and Col. 5, Lines 15-20 “At polygon 314, the structured/formatted data is analyzed to find maintenance events, which are defined by what type of maintenance will be performed; which configuration items are affected; what date, time, and duration the maintenance will be; and which information source the data originated from.” and Col. 6, Lines 14-21 “At polygon 322, the affected configuration items are designated as being in maintenance mode according to the details of the event. As stated previously, when a configuration item is in maintenance mode, alerts from a MEM tool (such as MEM tool 120, shown in FIG. 1) are suppressed, for example, by a user (such as user 128, shown in FIG. 1), through an application programming interface (API), or with robotic process automation (RPA).”) The citation is interpreted to read on the claimed invention because under broadest reasonable interpretation, the configuration items have reliance/dependency on each other and as such are marked as being in maintenance mode if their combined score is above a threshold to require maintenance.
upon marking the resource and the set of resources, suspend monitoring of the resource and the set of resources. (Col. 2, Lines 22-35 “In accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure, a maintenance ticketing system for a computing infrastructure can be an Incident, Problem, Change (IPC) tool, and an automated monitoring system can be a monitoring and event management (MEM) tool. As will be shown and discussed henceforth in the present disclosure, a suppressing tool can interface with both the IPC tool and the MEM tool so that the MEM tool can be informed about maintenance being performed on configuration items in the computing infrastructure, even if they are not present in the IPC tool. The suppressing tool can inform the MEM tool when a configuration item is in a maintenance mode, such that alerts of anomalies related to the configuration item may be suppressed.”) The citation is interpreted to read on the claimed invention because under broadest reasonable interpretation, the monitoring of the configuration item is suspended such that the alerts of anomalies are suppressed when maintenance mode is active.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to add determine a maintenance schedule of a resource in a data center; during the maintenance schedule of the resource: mark that the resource and the set of resources having the dependency relationship with the resource are in a maintenance mode; and upon marking the resource and the set of resources, suspend monitoring of the resource and the set of resources as seen in Simeonov’s invention into Qian's invention because these modifications allow use of a known technique to improve similar devices in the same way such that a user can group the data center resourced based on dependency into maintenance mode and suspend the unnecessary monitoring of the resources in a case where they could then be shifting resource usage from one data center to another.
Regarding claim 3, Qian discloses the management node of claim 1, wherein the resource comprises one of an infrastructure element and a business application. (Col. 1, Lines 12-16 “An organization may operate a pair of data centers that each host a collection of resources—such as applications, middleware, and databases. Each data center may host the same collection of resources and function as a backup for the other data center.”) The citation is interpreted to read on the claimed invention because under broadest reasonable interpretation, the resources include applications that could include a business application hosted by TD Ameritrade IP Company.
Regarding claim 4, Qian discloses the management node of claim 3, when the resource is the infrastructure element, the resource management module is to determine the set of resources that are descendants of the resource, ancestors of the resource, peers of a resource-type associated with the resource, or any combination thereof based on the preselected category. (Col. 1, Lines 12-26 “An organization may operate a pair of data centers that each host a collection of resources—such as applications, middleware, and databases. Each data center may host the same collection of resources and function as a backup for the other data center. For example, a failover may be performed between the two data centers, such that a set of resources hosted at one data center is stopped and the set of resources is started at the other data center. Traditionally, the resources in the data centers are managed by a team of operators. Each operator may (i) possess detailed knowledge of and (ii) be responsible for the management of specific resources and their respective execution environments—for example, what other resources they depend on. In addition to personally held knowledge, the details and instructions for managing the different resources may be documented.” and Col. 1, Line 57-62 “A data center management system includes at least one processor and a memory coupled to the at least one processor. The memory stores a set of resource records. Each resource record of the set of resource records includes (i) a name of a resource hosted at a first data center and a second data center, and (ii) dependency data of the resource.”) The citation is interpreted to read on the claimed invention because under broadest reasonable interpretation, the resources include infrastructure elements and the resource record clearly states the name of the resource and the dependency data of the resource.
Regarding claim 5, Qian discloses the management node of claim 3, when the resource is the business application, the resource management module is to determine the set of resources that are descendants of the resource, ancestors of the resource, or both based on the preselected category. (Col. 1, Lines 12-16 “An organization may operate a pair of data centers that each host a collection of resources—such as applications, middleware, and databases. Each data center may host the same collection of resources and function as a backup for the other data center.” and Col. 1, Line 57-62 “A data center management system includes at least one processor and a memory coupled to the at least one processor. The memory stores a set of resource records. Each resource record of the set of resource records includes (i) a name of a resource hosted at a first data center and a second data center, and (ii) dependency data of the resource.”) The citation is interpreted to read on the claimed invention because under broadest reasonable interpretation, the resources include applications that could include a business application hosted by TD Ameritrade IP Company and the resource record clearly states the name of the resource and the dependency data of the resource.
Regarding claim 6, Qian discloses the management node of claim 1, but does not explicitly disclose:
… wherein the resource management module is to:
suspend computation of health, alerts, troubleshooting workbench, reports, and predefined dashboards for the resource and the determined set of resources.
However, Simeonov discloses:
… wherein the resource management module is to:
suspend computation of health, alerts, troubleshooting workbench, reports, and predefined dashboards for the resource and the determined set of resources. (Col. 2, Lines 22-41 “In accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure, a maintenance ticketing system for a computing infrastructure can be an Incident, Problem, Change (IPC) tool, and an automated monitoring system can be a monitoring and event management (MEM) tool. As will be shown and discussed henceforth in the present disclosure, a suppressing tool can interface with both the IPC tool and the MEM tool so that the MEM tool can be informed about maintenance being performed on configuration items in the computing infrastructure, even if they are not present in the IPC tool. The suppressing tool can inform the MEM tool when a configuration item is in a maintenance mode, such that alerts of anomalies related to the configuration item may be suppressed. This can prevent the MEM tool from taking unnecessary action on the configuration item that may interfere or conflict with the maintenance being performed. In addition, the suppressing tool can inform the MEM tool of when a configuration item is out of maintenance mode so that normal monitoring of the configuration item can resume.”) The citation is interpreted to read on the claimed invention because under broadest reasonable interpretation, the maintenance on a configuration item will suppress alerts and monitoring. The MEM tool is informed when a configuration item is out of maintenance so all necessary monitoring resumes.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to add wherein the resource management module is to: suspend computation of health, alerts, troubleshooting workbench, reports, and predefined dashboards for the resource and the determined set of resources as seen in Simeonov’s invention into Qian's invention because these modifications allow use of a known technique to improve similar devices in the same way such that a suspension of the unnecessary monitoring of the resources is completed in a case where they could then be shifting resource usage from one data center to another.
Regarding claim 7, Qian discloses the management node of claim 1, but does not explicitly disclose:
… wherein the resource management module is to:
update an interface to indicate that the resource and the determined set of resources are in the maintenance mode, wherein the interface includes a user interface, an application programming interface (API), and a Representational State Transfer (REST) API, or any combination thereof, and wherein the user interface includes a Web browser.
However, Simeonov discloses:
… wherein the resource management module is to:
update an interface to indicate that the resource and the determined set of resources are in the maintenance mode, wherein the interface includes a user interface, an application programming interface (API), and a Representational State Transfer (REST) API, or any combination thereof, and wherein the user interface includes a Web browser. (Col. 6, Lines 14-21 “At polygon 322, the affected configuration items are designated as being in maintenance mode according to the details of the event. As stated previously, when a configuration item is in maintenance mode, alerts from a MEM tool (such as MEM tool 120, shown in FIG. 1) are suppressed, for example, by a user (such as user 128, shown in FIG. 1), through an application programming interface (API), or with robotic process automation (RPA).” and Col. 10, Lines 4-13 “In some embodiments, the computer system 11 may be a multi-user mainframe computer system, a single-user system, or a server computer or similar device that has little or no direct user interface but receives requests from other computer systems (clients). Further, in some embodiments, the computer system 11 may be implemented as a desktop computer, portable computer, laptop or notebook computer, tablet computer, pocket computer, telephone, smart phone, mobile device, or any other appropriate type of electronic device.” and Col. 15, Lines 14-18 “Software as a Service (SaaS): the capability provided to the consumer is to use the provider's applications running on a cloud infrastructure. The applications are accessible from various client devices through a thin client interface such as a web browser (e.g., web-based e-mail).”) The citation is interpreted to read on the claimed invention because under broadest reasonable interpretation, the resources are updated to be in maintenance mode and the update can be shown through an API in a thin client interface on a web browser of a computer system.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to add wherein the resource management module is to: update an interface to indicate that the resource and the determined set of resources are in the maintenance mode, wherein the interface includes a user interface, an application programming interface (API), and a Representational State Transfer (REST) API, or any combination thereof, and wherein the user interface includes a Web browser as seen in Simeonov’s invention into Qian's invention because these modifications allow use of a known technique to improve similar devices in the same way such that an updating of an interface to clearly disclose the maintenance mode of data center resources is completed in a case where the user could clearly understand the shifting resource usage from one data center to another based on maintenance.
Regarding claim 8, it is a method claim having the same limitations as cited in management node claim 1. Thus, claim 8 is also rejected under the same rationale as addressed in the rejection of claim 1 above.
Regarding claim 9, it is a method claim having the same limitations as cited in management node claim 4. Thus, claim 9 is also rejected under the same rationale as addressed in the rejection of claim 4 above.
Regarding claim 10, it is a method claim having the same limitations as cited in management node claim 6. Thus, claim 10 is also rejected under the same rationale as addressed in the rejection of claim 6 above.
Regarding claim 11, Qian discloses the method of claim 8, but does not explicitly disclose:
… wherein suspending monitoring of the resource and the determined set of resources comprises:
suspending monitoring of the resource and the determined set of resources to avoid generating false positive alerts during the scheduled maintenance.
However, Simeonov discloses:
… wherein suspending monitoring of the resource and the determined set of resources comprises:
suspending monitoring of the resource and the determined set of resources to avoid generating false positive alerts during the scheduled maintenance. (Col. 2, Lines 22-35 “In accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure, a maintenance ticketing system for a computing infrastructure can be an Incident, Problem, Change (IPC) tool, and an automated monitoring system can be a monitoring and event management (MEM) tool. As will be shown and discussed henceforth in the present disclosure, a suppressing tool can interface with both the IPC tool and the MEM tool so that the MEM tool can be informed about maintenance being performed on configuration items in the computing infrastructure, even if they are not present in the IPC tool. The suppressing tool can inform the MEM tool when a configuration item is in a maintenance mode, such that alerts of anomalies related to the configuration item may be suppressed.”) The citation is interpreted to read on the claimed invention because under broadest reasonable interpretation, the monitoring of the configuration item is suspended such that the alerts of anomalies are suppressed when maintenance mode is active.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to add wherein suspending monitoring of the resource and the determined set of resources comprises: suspending monitoring of the resource and the determined set of resources to avoid generating false positive alerts during the scheduled maintenance as seen in Simeonov’s invention into Qian's invention because these modifications allow use of a known technique to improve similar devices in the same way such that a suspension of the unnecessary monitoring of the resources is completed to avoid false notifications during maintenance mode in a case where resource usage is shifting from one data center to another.
Regarding claim 12, it is a method claim having the same limitations as cited in management node claim 7. Thus, claim 12 is also rejected under the same rationale as addressed in the rejection of claim 7 above.
Regarding claim 13, Qian discloses the method of claim 8, wherein the resource comprises an infrastructure element in a data center … (Col. 1, Lines 12-26 “An organization may operate a pair of data centers that each host a collection of resources—such as applications, middleware, and databases. Each data center may host the same collection of resources and function as a backup for the other data center. For example, a failover may be performed between the two data centers, such that a set of resources hosted at one data center is stopped and the set of resources is started at the other data center. Traditionally, the resources in the data centers are managed by a team of operators. Each operator may (i) possess detailed knowledge of and (ii) be responsible for the management of specific resources and their respective execution environments—for example, what other resources they depend on. In addition to personally held knowledge, the details and instructions for managing the different resources may be documented.”) The citation is interpreted to read on the claimed invention because under broadest reasonable interpretation, the resources in the data centers include infrastructure elements.
Qian does not explicitly disclose:
… and wherein the set of resources comprises at least one virtual machine running on a physical host computing system and at least one application running on the at least one virtual machine.
However, Simeonov discloses:
… and wherein the set of resources comprises at least one virtual machine running on a physical host computing system and at least one application running on the at least one virtual machine. (Fig. 2 and Col. 4, Lines 4-14 “In the illustrated embodiment, the computing infrastructure 200 comprises datacenter 202; racks 204 and 206 (e.g., hardware); servers 208 and 210 (e.g., hardware); virtual machines 212, 214, 216, 218, and 220 (e.g., hardware and software); and applications 222, 224, 226, and 228 (e.g., software). According to the hierarchy, applications 222-228 are dependent on virtual machine 214 and 220, respectively, and virtual machines 212-220 are dependent on servers 208 and 210, respectively. In turn, servers 208 and 210 are dependent on rack 204, and racks 204 and 206 are dependent on datacenter 202.”) The citation is interpreted to read on the claimed invention because under broadest reasonable interpretation, the VM runs on the computing infrastructure and has application(s) that run on the VM.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to add wherein the set of resources comprises at least one virtual machine running on a physical host computing system and at least one application running on the at least one virtual machine as seen in Simeonov’s invention into Qian's invention because these modifications allow simple substitution of one known element for another to obtain predictable results such that virtual machines running in the same environment as a data center allows different use cases for the monitoring and maintenance of data center resources.
Regarding claim 14, Qian discloses the method of claim 8, wherein the resource comprises a business application, and wherein the set of resources comprises components of the business application that provide a business functionality. (Col. 1, Lines 12-16 “An organization may operate a pair of data centers that each host a collection of resources—such as applications, middleware, and databases. Each data center may host the same collection of resources and function as a backup for the other data center.”) The citation is interpreted to read on the claimed invention because under broadest reasonable interpretation, the resources include applications that could include a business application hosted by TD Ameritrade IP Company.
Regarding claim 15, it is a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium claim having the same limitations as cited in management node claim 1. Thus, claim 15 is also rejected under the same rationale as addressed in the rejection of claim 1 above.
Regarding claim 17, it is a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium claim having the same limitations as cited in management node claim 4. Thus, claim 17 is also rejected under the same rationale as addressed in the rejection of claim 4 above.
Regarding claim 18, it is a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium claim having the same limitations as cited in management node claim 6. Thus, claim 18 is also rejected under the same rationale as addressed in the rejection of claim 6 above.
Regarding claim 19, it is a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium claim having the same limitations as cited in management node claim 7. Thus, claim 19 is also rejected under the same rationale as addressed in the rejection of claim 7 above.
Regarding claim 20, it is a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium claim having the same limitations as cited in management node claim 3. Thus, claim 20 is also rejected under the same rationale as addressed in the rejection of claim 3 above.
4. Claims 2 and 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Qian et al. (U.S. Patent No. 11,119,783) – hereinafter “Qian”, in view of Simeonov et al. (U.S. Patent No. 11,456,912) – hereinafter “Simeonov”, and further in view of Keller et al. (U.S. Patent No. 6,847,970) – hereinafter “Keller”.
Regarding claim 2, Qian discloses the management node of claim 1, but does not explicitly disclose:
… wherein the resource management module is to:
receive, via an interface, a selection of an option specifying the preselected category of resources to be placed in the maintenance mode, wherein the preselected category of resources is to specify the dependency relationship with the resource.
However, Keller discloses:
wherein the resource management module is to:
receive, via an interface, a selection of an option specifying the preselected category of resources to be placed in the maintenance mode, wherein the preselected category of resources is to specify the dependency relationship with the resource. (Fig. 6 and Col. 17, Lines 18-32 “The structural template 610, used for the structural model 510, contains all the fields of the functional template 605, which allows to link the functional template 605 with the structural template 610 in order to navigate from the functional model 500 to the structural model 510, and vice-versa. In addition, the structural template 610 contains the "componentName" (the name of the product component), an "identifier" (a globally unique name for identifying the component), the "version," "release" and "modification" (e.g., maintenance or patch/fix level) numbers, the "installState" (indicating whether the component has been successfully and completely installed) and "processName" (the name of the process(es) that identify this product component at runtime). Furthermore, the "Antecedent" field lists the component(s) this component requires to be operable.”) The citation is interpreted to read on the claimed invention because under broadest reasonable interpretation, the template received via an interface clearly discloses maintenance and lists the components that are required to be operable such that resource dependency is made clear.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to add wherein the resource management module is to: receive, via an interface, a selection of an option specifying the preselected category of resources to be placed in the maintenance mode, wherein the preselected category of resources is to specify the dependency relationship with the resource as seen in Keller's invention into Qian's invention because these modifications allow use of a known technique to improve similar devices in the same way such that a user can set the data center resource grouping based on dependency into maintenance mode in a case where they could then be shifting resource usage from one data center to another.
Regarding claim 16, it is a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium claim having the same limitations as cited in management node claim 2. Thus, claim 16 is also rejected under the same rationale as addressed in the rejection of claim 2 above.
Conclusion
5. The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Such prior art includes Trinon et al. (U.S. Patent No. 6,983, 321) which discloses use cases for business applications in communication with enterprise systems to handle maintenance mode and Larsen et al. (U.S. Pub. No. 2011/0126197) which discloses monitoring of virtualized data centers and how maintenance mode in these data centers are handled.
Examiner has cited particular columns/paragraphs/sections and line numbers in the references applied and not relied upon to the claims above for the convenience of the applicant. Although the specified citations are representative of the teachings of the art and are applied to specific limitations within the individual claim, other passages and figures may apply as well. It is respectfully requested from the applicant in preparing responses, to fully consider the references in entirety as potentially teaching all or part of the claimed invention, as well as the context of the passage as taught by the prior art or disclosed by the Examiner.
When responding to the Office action, applicant is advised to clearly point out the patentable novelty the claims present in view of the state of the art disclosed by the reference(s) cited or the objections made. A showing of how the amendments avoid such references or objections must also be present. See 37 C.F.R. 1.111(c).
When responding to this Office action, applicant is advised to provide the line and page numbers in the application and/or reference(s) cited to assist in locating the appropriate paragraphs.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DANIEL B TRAINOR whose telephone number is (571)272-3710. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 9AM-5PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Pierre Vital can be reached at (571) 272-4215. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/D.T./Examiner, Art Unit 2198
/PIERRE VITAL/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2198