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 Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 1-8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as failing to set forth the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor, or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant regards as the invention.
Claim 1 recites the limitation "each of the first members" in Line 19 of the claims. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. For the purpose of further examination, the limitation will be interpreted as "each of the first set of members”
Dependent claims 2-8, inherit the deficiencies of claim 1; thus, they are also rejected under 35 USC § 112.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 101
35 U.S.C. 101 reads as follows:
Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.
Claim 1-9 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to an abstract idea without significantly more.
MPEP 2106 (Ill) sets out steps for evaluating whether a claim is drawn to patent-eligible subject matter. The analysis of claims 1-9, in accordance with these steps, follows.
Step 1 Analysis:
Claim 9 is directed to method (processes). Claim 1-8 are directed to a device (machine). Therefore, claims 1-9 fall into one of four statutory categories (i.e., process, machine, article of manufacture).
As to claim 1,
Step 2A Prong 1: this claim recites the following abstract ideas:
identify a first, a second, and a third set of members from among the set of members based on a hierarchical level of the set of members, wherein each of the first members is associated with at least one of the second set of members, and wherein each of the second set of members is associated with at least one of the third set of members; (this limitation describes organizing items in hierarchal levels which is a mental process implemented in the human mind.)
Step 2A Prong 2 and 2B: the claim recited the following additional elements:
a storage device including a plurality of repositories operatively coupled to one or more computing devices, the plurality of repositories can be configured to store knowledge data and metadata associated with the knowledge data in a hierarchical manner, the plurality of repositories comprises a root repository, a namespace repository, and a work repository, wherein members of the root repository, namespace repository, and work repository are associated with each other in a hierarchical manner; and (This limitation is directed to mere instruction to apply the abstract idea on a generic computer to process, which is a well-understood, routine, conventional activity, see MPEP 2106.05(d)(II)(i))
a monitoring unit having a processor operatively coupled to a memory, the memory storing instructions executable by the processor to: (This limitation is directed to mere instruction to apply the abstract idea on a generic computer to process, which is a well-understood, routine, conventional activity, see MPEP 2106.05(d)(II)(i))
receive a first set of data packets from a computing device associated with a user, the first set of data packets corresponding to knowledge data and metadata comprises information of a set of members associated with the knowledge data; (this limitation describes data collection/receiving, which is a well-understood, routine, conventional activity, see MPEP 2106.05(d)(II)(i))
generate members of the root repository based on the first set of members, members of the namespace repository based on the second set of members, and members of the work repository based on the third set of members; and (This limitation is directed to mere instruction to apply the abstract idea on a generic computer to process, which is a well-understood, routine, conventional activity, see MPEP 2106.05(d)(II)(i))
store the knowledge data in the corresponding member of the work repository and store metadata associated with each repository in the corresponding repositories. (This limitation is directed to mere instruction to apply the abstract idea on a generic computer to process, which is a well-understood, routine, conventional activity, see MPEP 2106.05(d)(II)(i))
The additional element does not integrate the judicial exception into practical application and does not amount to significantly more than the Judicial exception.
As to claim 9,
Step 2A Prong 1: this claim recites the following abstract ideas:
Identifying, … , a first, a second, and a third set of members from among the set of members based on a hierarchical level of the set of members, wherein each of the first members is associated with at least one of the second set of members, and wherein each of the second set of members is associated with at least one of the third set of members; (this limitation describes organizing items in hierarchal levels which is a mental process implemented in the human mind.)
Step 2A Prong 2 and 2B: the claim recited the following additional elements:
by the one or more processors, (This limitation is directed to mere instruction to apply the abstract idea on a generic computer to process, which is a well-understood, routine, conventional activity, see MPEP 2106.05(d)(II)(i))
receiving, by one or more processors, a first set of data packets from a computing device associated with a user, the first set of data packets corresponding to knowledge data and metadata, wherein metadata comprises information of a set of members associated with the knowledge data; (This limitation is directed to mere instruction to apply the abstract idea on a generic computer to process, which is a well-understood, routine, conventional activity, see MPEP 2106.05(d)(II)(i))
generating, by the one or more processors, members of the root repository based on the first set of members, members of the namespace repository based on the second set of members, and members of the work repository based on the third set of members; and (This limitation is directed to mere instruction to apply the abstract idea on a generic computer to process, which is a well-understood, routine, conventional activity, see MPEP 2106.05(d)(II)(i))
storing, by the one or more processors, the knowledge data in the corresponding work repository and storing metadata associated with each repository in the corresponding repositories. (This limitation is directed to mere instruction to apply the abstract idea on a generic computer to process, which is a well-understood, routine, conventional activity, see MPEP 2106.05(d)(II)(i))
The additional element does not integrate the judicial exception into practical application and does not amount to significantly more than the Judicial exception.
As to claim 2,
Step 2A Prong 1: this claim recites the following abstract ideas:
wherein the second set of members comprises a plurality of subsets of members, wherein each subset of members is associated with a mount level indicating the hierarchical level within the namespace repository, (this limitation describes hierarchal categorization of information which is a mental process implemented in the human mind)
Step 2A Prong 2 and 2B: the claim recited the following additional elements:
wherein the subset of members is stored along with the corresponding mount level, wherein (This limitation is directed to mere instruction to apply the abstract idea on a generic computer to process, which is a well-understood, routine, conventional activity, see MPEP 2106.05(d)(II)(i))
the namespace members are associated with a silo function that creates further namespace members on the basis of its active or inactive state. (This limitation is directed to mere instruction to apply the abstract idea on a generic computer to process, which is a well-understood, routine, conventional activity, see MPEP 2106.05(d)(II)(i))
The additional element does not integrate the judicial exception into practical application and does not amount to significantly more than the Judicial exception.
As to claim 3,
Step 2A Prong 1: this claim recites the following abstract ideas:
generate a root ID indicating a unique identification key corresponding to each of the members of the root repository; (the limitation describes assigning identifiers to categorized information, which is a mental process implemented in the human mind)
generate a namespace ID indicating a unique identification key corresponding to each of the members of the namespace repository; (the limitation describes assigning identifiers to categorized information, which is a mental process implemented in the human mind)
generate a work ID indicating a unique identification key corresponding to each of the members of the work repository; and (the limitation describes assigning identifiers to categorized information, which is a mental process implemented in the human mind)
Step 2A Prong 2 and 2B: the claim recited the following additional elements:
store the root ID along with the first set of members, the namespace ID along with the second set of members and work ID along with the third set of members. (This limitation is directed to mere instruction to apply the abstract idea on a generic computer to process, which is a well-understood, routine, conventional activity, see MPEP 2106.05(d)(II)(i))
The additional element does not integrate the judicial exception into practical application and does not amount to significantly more than the Judicial exception.
As to claim 4,
Step 2A Prong 1: This claim does not recite an additional abstract idea, but the claim depends on claim 1 which recites an abstract idea.
Step 2A Prong 2 and 2B: the claim recited the following additional elements:
wherein the processor is configured to: generate a knowledge index indicating the location of memory blocks where the knowledge data is stored and type of the knowledge data; and
store the knowledge index along with the third set of members. (This limitation is directed to mere instruction to apply the abstract idea on a generic computer to process, which is a well-understood, routine, conventional activity, see MPEP 2106.05(d)(II)(i))
The additional element does not integrate the judicial exception into practical application and does not amount to significantly more than the Judicial exception.
As to claim 5,
Step 2A Prong 1: This claim does not recite an additional abstract idea, but the claim depends on claim 1 which recites an abstract idea.
Step 2A Prong 2 and 2B: the claim recited the following additional elements:
wherein the processor is configured to provide access to a user based on the association of the user with the corresponding repository to be accessed. (This limitation is directed to mere instruction to apply the abstract idea on a generic computer to process, which is a well-understood, routine, conventional activity, see MPEP 2106.05(d)(II)(i))
The additional element does not integrate the judicial exception into practical application and does not amount to significantly more than the Judicial exception.
As to claim 6,
Step 2A Prong 1: This claim does not recite an additional abstract idea, but the claim depends on claim 5, and claim 5 depends on claim 1 which recites an abstract idea.
Step 2A Prong 2 and 2B: the claim recited the following additional elements:
wherein the processor is configured to obtain login credential details from the user and provide access to the user in case the obtained credential matches with the pre-stored credentials. (This limitation is directed to mere instruction to apply the abstract idea on a generic computer to process, which is a well-understood, routine, conventional activity, see MPEP 2106.05(d)(II)(i))
The additional element does not integrate the judicial exception into practical application and does not amount to significantly more than the Judicial exception.
As to claim 7,
Step 2A Prong 1: This claim does not recite an additional abstract idea, but the claim depends on claim 1 which recites an abstract idea.
Step 2A Prong 2 and 2B: the claim recited the following additional elements:
wherein the processor is configured to maintain an account database to store identification key of the plurality of repositories. (This limitation is directed to mere instruction to apply the abstract idea on a generic computer to store data in a database, which is a well-understood, routine, conventional activity, see MPEP 2106.05(d)(II)(i))
The additional element does not integrate the judicial exception into practical application and does not amount to significantly more than the Judicial exception.
As to claim 8,
Step 2A Prong 1: This claim does not recite an additional abstract idea, but the claim depends on claim 1 which recites an abstract idea.
Step 2A Prong 2 and 2B: the claim recited the following additional elements:
wherein the computing device comprises a display unit configured to provide a graphical user interface between the user and the system. (This limitation is directed to mere instruction to apply the abstract idea on a generic computer with a user interface, which is a well-understood, routine, conventional activity, see MPEP 2106.05(d)(II)(i))
The additional element does not integrate the judicial exception into practical application and does not amount to significantly more than the Judicial exception.
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.
Claim(s) 1-9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Von Muhlen et al. (US 9922201 B2) in view of Nivala et al. (US 10452623 B2).
As to claim 1, von Muhlen teaches a knowledge management system comprising
a storage device including a plurality of repositories operatively coupled to one or more computing devices, the plurality of repositories can be configured to store knowledge data (see von Muhlen [Col 5 L 10] “A content item managed by content management system 108 may be a logical collection of digital information including, but not limited to, a digital document, file, or other logical collection of digital information. Often, a content item corresponds to a known media type such as, for example, an image … music … a movie … a word processing document … other document (e.g., PDF, etc.), a spreadsheet document … a presentation document …, a web page … or a text file … However, a content item managed by content management system 108 is not limited to being a particular media type, and the content item may encompass any logical collection of digital information including binary data, text data, or other digital information”)
and metadata associated with the knowledge data in a hierarchical manner, ( see von Muhlen [Col 8 L 35] “and stored at the client device 102, such as namespace metadata 116 and/or hierarchical data that describes the hierarchy containing the contents that belong to the namespace. In some embodiments, the hierarchical data that describes the hierarchy is treated as namespace metadata 116 and is included in the namespace metadata 116.”)
the plurality of repositories comprises a root repository, a namespace repository, and a work repository, wherein members of the root repository, namespace repository, and work repository are associated with each other in a hierarchical manner; and
(see von Muhlen [Col 12 L 22] “FIG. 2 shows a hierarchy 200 of content available to user A and a hierarchy 200 … The content management system 108 also manages folder F3. Namespace NS_3 is rooted to shared folder F3. The content management system 108 maintains permissions for namespace NS_3 that grant access to namespace NS_3 to a second set of users. The permissions for namespace NS_3 grant access to user A. User A has mounted namespace NS_3 to the root namespace NS_A. … The content management system also manages folder F5. Namespace NS_5 is rooted to shared folder F5. The content management system maintains permissions for namespace NS_5 that grants access to namespace NS_5 to a third set of users.”
a monitoring unit having a processor operatively coupled to a memory, the memory storing instructions executable by the processor to: (see von Muhlen [Col 23 L 37] “Main memory 806, such as a random access memory (RAM) or other dynamic storage device, also may be coupled to bus 802 for storing information and software instructions to be executed by processor(s)”)
identify a first, a second, and a third set of members from among the set of members based on a hierarchical level of the set of members,
(see von Muhlen [Col 12 L 22] “FIG. 2 shows a hierarchy 200 of content available to user A and a hierarchy 200 …The content management system 108 manages a shared folder F1. Namespace NS_1 is rooted to shared folder F1. The content management system 108 maintains permissions for namespace NS_1 that grant access to namespace NS_1 to a first set of users … The content management system 108 also manages folder F3. Namespace NS_3 is rooted to shared folder F3. The content management system 108 maintains permissions for namespace NS_3 that grant access to namespace NS_3 to a second set of users. The permissions for namespace NS_3 grant access to user A. User A has mounted namespace NS_3 to the root namespace NS_A. … The content management system also manages folder F5. Namespace NS_5 is rooted to shared folder F5. The content management system maintains permissions for namespace NS_5 that grants access to namespace NS_5 to a third set of users.”)
wherein each of the first members is associated with at least one of the second set of members, and wherein each of the second set of members is associated with at least one of the third set of members; (see von Muhlen [Col 13 L 66] “At block 308, a computing device, such as the control server 120, maintains first permissions for the first namespace. The first permissions grant access to the first namespace to a first set of users of the plurality of users. … receives a request to share a second folder that is a child of the first folder in a particular hierarchy of the plurality of hierarchies.”, and see von Muhlen [Col 16 L 2 “users with access to the parent namespace will have access to the particular namespace based on the permissions maintained for the parent namespace. These members are implicit members of the particular namespace. … implicit permissions for a particular namespace may be derived from an ancestor namespace that is higher than a parent namespace when the permissions for the particular namespace and the relevant ancestor namespace/s specify that permission are inherited.”, and see Fig. 2)
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generate members of the root repository based on the first set of members, members of the namespace repository based on the second set of members, and members of the work repository based on the third set of members; and (see von Muhlen [Col 13 L 47] “At block 304, a computing device, such as a control server 120, establishes a plurality of root namespaces. Each root namespace is associated a root folder of an account corresponding to one or more users … At block 306, a computing device, such as the control server 120, establishes a first namespace rooted to a first folder selected from the plurality of folders. In some embodiments, the first namespace is a root namespace of an individual account and/or an entity account. In some embodiments, the first namespace is a namespace rooted to a team folder which is associated with a set of individual accounts. In some embodiments, the first namespace is a shared namespace other than a root namespace of an individual account or an entity account.”
von Muhlen does not explicitly teaches "receive a first set of data packets from a computing device associated with a user, the first set of data packets corresponding to knowledge data and metadata comprises information of a set of members associated with the knowledge data;", and "store the knowledge data in the corresponding member of the work repository and store metadata associated with each repository in the corresponding repositories"
However, Nivala teaches,
receive a first set of data packets from a computing device associated with a user, the first set of data packets corresponding to knowledge data and metadata comprises information of a set of members associated with the knowledge data; (see Nivala [Col 5 L17] “wherein said centralized content management system provides an access for one or more client devices to data items in said one or more connected data repositories; to receive a request from a user to store a new data item to a centralized content management system; to store said new data item to at least one of the one or more data repositories; to create centralized content management metadata for said new data item; and to associate the created centralized content management metadata with said data item.”)
store the knowledge data in the corresponding member of the work repository and store metadata associated with each repository in the corresponding repositories. (see Nivala [Col 16 L 50] “The CCM metadata managed and/or stored by the centralized content management system may be stored exclusively in the centralized content management system, and/or it may be pushed to the original data repository or another data repository for storing there. For example, if the original data repository is an enterprise content management system with ECM metadata capabilities, it may be beneficial to have the centralized content management system synchronize the CCM metadata or just part of the CCM metadata with that original data repository, in order to enable the ability to leverage that metadata in the other system even if the user does not interact with the centralized content management system's user interfaces. CCM metadata may also be pushed to the original data repository or another data repository in cases where that data repository does not support metadata capabilities.”
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the invention of Von Muhlen to include the capability of centralized system to receive content requests and subsequently distribute or synchronize metadata across multiple repository to provide an intelligent metadata layer that augment existing storage system with advanced management functionalities they normally lack. Nivala [Col 9 L 49]
As to claim 2, Von Muhlen as modified by Nivala teaches the system as claimed in claim 1,
wherein the second set of members comprises a plurality of subsets of members, wherein each subset of members is associated with a mount level indicating the hierarchical level within the namespace repository, wherein the subset of members is stored along with the corresponding mount level, wherein the namespace members are associated with a silo function that creates further namespace members on the basis of its active or inactive state. (see von Muhlen [Col 12 L 62] “The content management system also manages folder F5. Namespace NS_5 is rooted to shared folder F5. The content management system maintains permissions for namespace NS_5 that grants access to namespace NS_5 to a third set of users. The permissions for namespace NS_5 grant access to namespace NS_5 both user A and user B, since namespace NS_5 is available to both users. User A has mounted namespace NS_5 to folder F3, while User A has mounted namespace NS_5 to its root folder B_ROOT. … The mount location to which a namespace is mounted can be described by a path relative to another namespace. In some embodiments, the mount location of a namespace is described by a path relative to a root namespace associated with an account. In some embodiments, a mount table is kept for multiple root namespaces. The mount table includes an identifier of the mounted namespace and a path relative to the root namespace…”, and see von Muhlen [Col 20 L54] “the term mount lock refers to a synchronization mechanism associated with individual namespaces to control access to the corresponding namespace with respect to mounting location changes. For one or more constraints, satisfying the constraint comprises obtaining mount locks for affected namespaces”)
As to claim 3, Von Muhlen as modified by Nivala teaches the system as claimed in claim 1,
generate a root ID indicating a unique identification key corresponding to each of the members of the root repository; generate a namespace ID indicating a unique identification key corresponding to each of the members of the namespace repository; generate a work ID indicating a unique identification key corresponding to each of the members of the work repository; and store the root ID along with the first set of members, the namespace ID along with the second set of members and work ID along with the third set of members. (see von Muhlen [Col 7 L 3] “The account database 126 stores information about accounts that are created and/or managed by the content management system 108. In some embodiments, the content management system 108 supports individual accounts that each correspond to an individual user. Alternatively and/or in addition, the content management system 108 may support entity accounts. An entity account corresponds to an entity that is associated with a set of users. The set of users may be limited to users with individual accounts, or may include one or more users that do not have an account with the content management system 108. Each account may have a record in the account database … [namespace ID.sub.1, namespace ID.sub.2, . . . namespace ID.sub.n]}—For each client device 102 (Device ID) linked to the account in [Device ID.sub.1, Device ID.sub.2, . . . Device ID.sub.N] …”, and see von Muhlen [Col 16 L25] "Parent Namespace ID—An identifier of a parent namespace to which the particular namespace")
As to claim 4, Von Muhlen as modified by Nivala teaches the system as claimed in claim 1,
generate a knowledge index indicating the location of memory blocks where the knowledge data is stored and type of the knowledge data; and store the knowledge index along with the third set of members. (see von Muhlen [Col 13 L 14] “the mount table for NS_A includes (relative to root namespace NS_A):
NS_1 at path /F1;
NS_3 at path /F3; and
NS_5 at path /F3/F5.”
As to claim 5, Von Muhlen as modified by Nivala teaches the system as claimed in claim 1,
wherein the processor is configured to provide access to a user based on the association of the user with the corresponding repository to be accessed. (see von Muhlen [COL 14 L 55] “Permissions are maintained that specify or otherwise indicate which user(s) and/or group(s) of users have access to content that belongs to a namespace. When the permissions for a particular namespace grant access to the particular namespace to a particular user, the content in the particular namespace is available to the user. The permissions may specify different levels of access, or access types”)
As to claim 6, Von Muhlen as modified by Nivala teaches the system as claimed in claim 5,wherein the processor is configured to obtain login credential details from the user and provide access to the user in case the obtained credential matches with the pre-stored credentials. (see von Muhlen [Col 7 L19] “Authentication Credentials—Information, such as but not limited to a username and password, which may be used to authenticate a user of the account.”)
As to claim 7. Von Muhlen as modified by Nivala teaches the system as claimed in claim 1,
wherein the processor is configured to maintain an account database to store identification key of the plurality of repositories. ( see von Muhlen [Col 7 L 15] “a record for an individual account in the account database 126 includes the following information, or a subset or a superset thereof: Account ID—A unique identifier of the account. Authentication Credentials—Information, such as but not limited to a username and password, which may be used to authenticate a user of the account. Linked Devices [Device ID.sub.1, Device ID.sub.2, . . . Device ID.sub.n] … Accessible namespaces {Device IDS, [namespace ID.sub.1, namespace ID.sub.2, . . . namespace ID.sub.n]}—For each client device 102 (Device ID) linked to the account”)
As to claim 8. Von Muhlen as modified by Nivala teaches the system as claimed in claim 1,
wherein the computing device comprises a display unit configured to provide a graphical user interface between the user and the system. (see von Muhlen [Col 3 L 64] “such as but not limited to a graphical user interface (GUI) 110, access to content 114 stored in association with one or more namespaces, and namespace metadata 116.”)
As to claim 9, this is directed to a method that corresponds to the system of claim 1, See the rejection for claim 1 above, which also applies to claim 9.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ABDULLAH K ABOUD whose telephone number is (571)272-0025. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri 8am-5pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Li B Zhen, can be reached at (571) 272-3768. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/ABDULLAH KHALED ABOUD/ Examiner, Art Unit 2121
/Li B. Zhen/ Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2121