DETAILED ACTION
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 .
CLAIM INTERPRETATION
Claims in this application are not interpreted under 35 U.S.C. §112(f) unless otherwise noted in this application.
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.
Claims 1 and 6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US Patent Application Publication No. US 2021/0064280 A1 (Gunda) in further view of Japanese Patent Application Publication JP2004289307A (Matsunaga) in further view of US Patent Application Publication No. US 2017/0060477 A1 (Kodera) in further view of US Patent Application Publication No. US 2014/0113460 A1 (Park) as evidenced by Professor Ingalls’ online class notes for Week 8 of the Fall 2004 Operating Systems class at RPI, titled “RAID”, as preserved by the Internet Archive on 5 December 2004 (Ingalls).
Regarding claim 1 and analogous claim 6:
Gunda teaches, a data recording system ([Fig. 1] – a system including a storage device configured to store video frames received from a host [0005]) comprising: a first recording medium which is removable (by teaching a non-volatile memory (110) that may include flash memory [0026], which may be found in secure digital cards (SD cards (which is removable)) [0002] [0026-0028]) wherein the host is configured to send pieces of partial data divided from predetermined data to be stored by the first recording medium (the host sends video frames and the memory stores the individual video frames (pieces of partial data divided from predetermined data (video data)) from the host at corresponding logical address [0028-0029]) and writing each of the pieces of partial data to one of the first recording medium (the memory stores the individual video frames (pieces of partial data divided from predetermined data (video data)) from the host at corresponding logical address [0028-0029]).
Gunda does not explicitly disclose, but Matsunaga teaches, a controller configured to control writing of data to the first recording medium and the second recording medium (by teaching that the control unit (16) puts itself in the state where it can control the recording management of image data based on the temperature information output from the power supply unit [0031-0033]. Controlling the recording management of image data includes selecting between a first memory card 201 and a second memory card 202 based on a received temperature of the camera [0034-0048]) wherein the controller is configured to: obtain, from the first recording medium, first recording property information; obtain, from the second recording medium, second recording property information (the recording medium control unit (162) of the control unit (16) determines the temperature ranges of the memory cards from an initialization process that involves obtaining identification information, initialization information, setting information, and the main specifications of the memory cards from the memory cards, the identification information can be used with a table to determine the operating temperature ranges of the memory cards (obtain first recording property information and second recording property information from the first recording medium and second recording medium respectively) [0026-0027] [0034-0038] [0043-0047]) determine, as a write destination of each of the pieces of partial data, one of the first recording medium or the second recording medium, based on the first recording property information and the second recording property information; perform writing by distributing and writing each of the pieces of partial data to one of the first recording medium or the second recording medium (depending on the current temperature, the recording medium control unit (162) of the control unit (16) may switch between one memory card or the other based on the corresponding operating temperature range of the memory cards and the current temperature measured by the temperature sensor [0034-0048]) and migrate one or more of the pieces of partial data written in the second recording medium to the first recording medium before the first recording medium is removed (by teaching that when image data, including video data [0012-0013] is stored across multiple storage devices, including multiple removable memory cards [0017] [0027-0030] [0034-0037], the image data may be re-recorded to a single memory card to save the user the trouble of sorting out the images for each recording medium [0051]. The memory cards are inserted into the camera, and it is understood that the re-recording must be performed before either memory card is removed from the camera or else the image data could not be re-recorded to a single memory card because the data would not be readable or writeable to the respective memory cards [0019-0025] [0049]).
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the writing of frames of data to logical block addresses of flash memory, such as a memory card, as taught by Gunda to have included writing to a first memory card when the temperature is within the operating temperature range of the first memory card, and switching the writing of the data to the second memory card when the temperature is outside the operating temperature range of the first memory card as determined by a temperature sensor and information about the temperature ranges, capacities, and setting information received from the memory cards as taught by Matsunaga.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification because when used at high temperatures, there is a risk of a drop in writing speed and a shortened lifespan as taught by Matsunaga in [0008], and furthermore, simply stopping writing data results in a loss of opportunity to a user [0012], therefore, switching to a different recording medium with a different operating temperature range allows a user to minimize the loss of shutter opportunities and captured images despite high temperatures as taught by Matsunaga in [0008] [0012] [0050].
Gunda in view of Matsunaga does not explicitly disclose, but Kodera teaches, first recording property information that indicates a first page size, a first block size, and a first performance in units of pages of the first recording medium, and second recording property information that indicates a second page size, a second block size, and a second performance in units of pages of the second recording medium (by teaching that a memory device may store a parameter page that is accessible by the host [Fig. 20]. The parameter page holds parameter data that is information inherent to the memory device [0054]. The parameter page may be updatable (S11) based on the selected features for the memory device (Set feature command), in this way, the parameter page can adapt to different selected operating features/modes [Fig. 20] [0170-0188]. The parameter page can include information like the device manufacture, module, and manufacture ID [Fig. 19]. The parameter page can also include information like the number of data bytes per page (page size), number of pages per block (block size), and tPROG, the maximum program time (performance in units of pages) [Fig. 19] [0134-0169]).
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the identification information and setting information, such as the capacities, operating temperature ranges, etc. of each memory device as taught by Matsunaga to be accessible by the host through a parameter page read operation, where the parameter page read operation may allow for the read parameters to be updated in response to a set features command to accurately reflect the current memory device state, and include information such as page size, block size, and page program time as taught by Kodera.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification because it allows the host to accurately recognize the latest state of the memory system after changing its settings, and can therefore perform the optimum operation as taught by Kodera in [0192].
Gunda in view of Matsunaga in further view of Kodera does not explicitly disclose, but Park as evidenced by Ingalls teaches perform striping recording by distributing and writing each of the pieces of partial data to one of the first recording medium or the second recording medium while switching the write destination between the first recording medium and the second recording medium (by teaching that the controller (320) is connected with the I/O unit to manage the memory cards by using a RAID approach according to one of the standard RAID levels. In RAID0, the data is divided into parts and stored across the memory cards (100d) (i.e., in a RAID stripe (striping recording)), which results in an increase in the processing speed [0083-0084] (as evidenced by Ingalls, which teaches that in RAID Level 0, “consecutive strips are distributed in an orderly fashion across all of the disks” [Ingalls, pg. 1] (while switching the write destination between the first recording medium and the second recording medium) – also see the Figure on [Ingalls, pg. 1])).
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the recording of frame data to the different memory cards according to the current temperatures and their operating temperature ranges as taught by Gunda in view of Matsunaga in further view of Kodera to include striping the data across the memory cards (when the memory cards were within their operating temperature ranges as taught by Gunda in view of Matsunaga in further view of Kodera) as taught by Park as evidenced by Ingalls.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification because a striped write across multiple drives increases the processing speed as taught by Park in [0084].
Claims 2 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Gunda in view of Matsunaga in further view of Kodera in further view of Park as evidenced by Ingalls (Gunda-Matsunaga-Kodera-Park-Ingalls) in further view of Japanese Patent Application Publication JP2005064926A (Matsuda).
Regarding claim 2:
The data recording system according to claim 1 is made obvious by Gunda-Matsunaga-Kodera-Park-Ingalls.
Gunda-Matsunaga-Kodera-Park-Ingalls does not explicitly disclose, but Matsuda teaches wherein the controller is configured to set the first recording medium to a non-removable state before writing each of the pieces of partial data to the first recording medium, and set the first recording medium to a removable state after migrating (migrating taught by Matsunaga above in claim 1) the one or more of the pieces of partial data written in the second recording medium to the first recording medium (by teaching that when a removable storage device is being written to or when it is intended for writing data to (i.e. such as before and when it is being written to or when data is being re-recorded as taught by Matsunaga), it may be prevented from being ejected (i.e. removed) by a physical block/lock or preventing the use of the eject button so that the card cannot be removed while it is being used and the card is locked, which prevents erroneous insertion and removal of the storage medium using for writing data [0020-0022] [0029] [0093-0096] [0123]).
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the recording of data to a memory card as taught by Gunda-Matsunaga-Kodera-Park-Ingalls to include a memory card being placed in a non-removable state with a physical block/lock or by preventing the use of the eject button when it is being written to or when data is being recorded, and being placed in a removable state when data is no longer being recorded to allow for insertion and removal, without erroneous insertion and removal as taught by Matsuda.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification because preventing the card from being ejected or locking the card when data is being written to it prevents erroneous insertion and removal of the storage medium used for writing data as taught by Matsuda in [0020-0022] [0029] [0093-0096] [0123].
Claim 3 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Gunda-Matsunaga-Kodera-Park-Ingalls in further view of US Patent Application Publication No. US 2010/0042862 A1 (Sun).
Regarding claim 3:
The data recording system according to claim 1 is made obvious by Gunda-Matsunaga-Kodera-Park-Ingalls.
Gunda does not explicitly disclose, but Matsunaga teaches wherein the controller migrates the one or more of the pieces of partial data written in the second recording medium to the first recording medium before the memory card is removed (i.e. as taught by the analysis performed in claim 1)).
Gunda-Matsunaga-Kodera-Park-Ingalls does not explicitly disclose, but Sun teaches, in response to receipt of a request to remove the first recording medium from an outside (by teaching that a user is asked to indicate when they intend to unplug a memory device (i.e. the user indication is outside the system) so that any data transfers can be safely completed before the device is disconnected [0004]).
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the relocation of data from the plurality of memory cards to a single memory card so the user doesn’t have to keep track of the images on the cards as taught by Matsunaga to include the transferring (i.e. relocating the data as taught by Matsunaga) the data when the user requests (i.e. the user is outside the system) to unplug the memory as taught by Sun.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification because it allows the data transfers to be safely completed before the device is disconnected as taught by Sun in [0004].
Response to Argument/Amendment
In response to the amendments to the claims, the specification objection has been withdrawn.
In response to the amendments to the claims, the 35 USC §112(b) rejection has been withdrawn.
In response to the amendments to the claims, the 35 USC §112(a) rejection has been withdrawn.
In response to the amendments to the claims, a new prior art rejection has been made according to the analysis seen above. Applicant argues that Gunda, Matsunaga, Park and Ingalls do not disclose the newly amended claim limitations. However, the Examiner relies upon Kodera for the newly amended limitations. Accordingly, Applicant’s argument against the other references is moot.
Applicant’s arguments with respect to the patentability of claims 2-3 and 6 are not persuasive for similar reasons to those indicated above for claim 1.
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.
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/CURTIS JAMES KORTMAN/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2139