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 .
DETAILED ACTION
Claims 1-22 are pending.
Examiner Notes
Examiner cites particular paragraphs and/or columns and lines in the references as applied to Applicant’s claims for the convenience of the Applicant. Although the specified citations are representative of the teachings in the art and are applied to the specific limitations within the individual claim, other passages and figures may apply as well. It is respectfully requested that, in preparing responses, the Applicant 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. The prompt development of a clear issue requires that the replies of the Applicant meet the objections to and rejections of the claims. Applicant should also specifically point out the support for any amendments made to the disclosure. See MPEP § 2163.06.
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 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.
Authorization for Internet Communications in a Patent Application
Applicant is encouraged to file an Authorization for Internet Communications in a Patent Application form (http://www.uspto.gov/sites/default/files/documents/sb0439.pdf) along with the response to this office action to facilitate and expedite future communication between Applicant and the examiner. If the form is submitted then Applicant is requested to provide a contact email address in the signature block at the conclusion of the official reply.
Claim Objections
As per claim 1, it is objected to because in ll. 13 “grains;” should be “grains”; and in ll. 17 the duplicate recitation of “execution modules” should be deleted. Appropriate correction is required.
As per claim 14, it is objected to because in ll. 4 “functions to state” should be “functions to a state”, and in ll. 6 “to state” should be “to the state”. Appropriate correction is required.
As per claim 15, it is objected to because the duplicate period at the end of the claim should be deleted. Appropriate correction is required.
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 Aleks et al. (US 2021/0037040) (hereinafter Aleks) in view of Kandasamy et al. (US 2024/0171466) (hereinafter Kandasamy) in view of Goldman et al. (US 2015/0261570) (hereinafter Goldman).
As per claim 1, Aleks primarily teaches the invention as claimed including an infrastructure-as-code ([0025] Infrastructure-as-Code configuration), the infrastructure-as-code comprising:
a master ([0025] master-minion design principal and [0040] the master i.e., the configuration and execution module), implemented in one or more computer systems ([0015] computing system), each containing one or more processors ([0059] computing systems including a processor or processors), one or more memories ([0022] memory), and one or more data-storage devices ([0022] data cache);
multiple minions ([0032] minions), each minion
running within a server ([0015] endpoint can be a server and [0033] endpoints run minions) within the distributed computing system ([0022] security testing platform and the data cache may be distributed across multiple computing systems, such that the data cache is distributed among them),
executing functions within execution modules in response to jobs issued by the master ([0025] execution module; [0031]-[0032] machine receives data and executes payload and minions execute at configured application module; and [0035]-[0036] execution of plural stages on the endpoint and execute scripts),
returning response information resulting from function executions to the master ([0035] send results of executions back to salt-master configuration and execution module where the results are parsed and sent to the web framework for reporting and the database for storage), and
including a grains interface ([0019] web interface platform or API and [0040] user interface) and stored information referred to as “grains;” ([0029]-[0030] configuration data, along with a particular state or other data associated with the endpoint may be termed “grains” and grains file)
a mine ([0037] a Mine);
a collection of pillars ([0040]-[0041] pillars), maintained by the master, that together comprise a database of stored information ([0022]-[0023] database for long-term data storage of information), including execution modules execution modules ([0026]-[0027] execution modules).
Aleks does not explicitly teach:
cloud-infrastructure-management service that manages cloud infrastructure provided by a distributed cloud-computing system;
maintained by the master, which contains a constantly updated collection of grains provided by the minions;
one or more state trees, portions of which can be selectively targeted for export to particular sets of minions;
a describe state module for generating infrastructure-as-code configuration-specification files.
However, Kandasamy teaches:
cloud-infrastructure-management service that manages cloud infrastructure provided by a distributed cloud-computing system ([0003] Infrastructure as Code (IaC) configuration file used to manage a cloud environment and recommendation service; [0014] distributed computing environment and cloud; [0028] IaC to manage a cloud environment and running services in a cloud environment);
a describe state module for generating infrastructure-as-code configuration-specification files ([0010] and [0053] dynamically updating an Infrastructure as Code (IaC) configuration file used to manage a cloud environment based on policy or best practices updates).
Kandasamy and Aleks are both concerned with infrastructure as code environments and are therefore combinable/modifiable. 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 Aleks in view of Kandasamy because it would provide a way for dynamically updating an Infrastructure as Code (IaC) configuration file used to manage a cloud environment based on policy, best practices updates, and a recommendation service to assist in updating IaC configuration code in order to prevent a potential service request failures.
Aleks in view of Kandasamy does not explicitly teach:
maintained by the master, which contains a constantly updated collection of grains provided by the minions;
one or more state trees, portions of which can be selectively targeted for export to particular sets of minions.
However, Goldman teaches:
maintained by the master, which contains a constantly updated collection of grains provided by the minions ([0038] worker agents update the hub device with their progress on tasks over time, and the hub device may propagate and aggregate statistics, such as a measure of progress, up the grain hierarchy, and as each task represented in a task grain sub-tree is completed, the hub device can update the state of the task grain to indicate that the task is done and [0072]-[0073] data included in the grains of the grain hierarchy may be updated by agents performing the computation and receiving and handling updates to grains in the grain hierarchy. For example, the hub device may receive updated information about an existing grain and merge that information with the existing grain in the grain hierarchy. In addition, the hub device may, in some implementations, receive a new version of an existing grain and replace the existing grain with the new version);
one or more state trees, portions of which can be selectively targeted for export to particular sets of minions (fig. 2 grain hierarchy tree and [0041] grain hierarchy represents state of computation by organizing grains in a tree structure and a sort task performed by a distributed processing system may be divided into subtasks for processing by multiple workers).
Goldman and Aleks are both concerned with task management in distributed computing systems and are therefore combinable/modifiable. 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 Aleks in view of Kandasamy in view of Goldman because it would provide a way for developers of tools that perform computations using a hub device to avoid the need to develop many features common to the hub device. The hub device can also allow for developer customization when a computation requires it. In addition to management supported by the hub itself, connected agents can observe and update the metadata in the hub to provide additional management capabilities, such as customized scheduling, and worker management.
As per claim 6, Kandasamy teaches wherein cloud infrastructure within the distributed cloud-computing system is configured and managed based on configuration-and-management information encoded in a set of configuration-and-management data files ([0053] dynamically updating an Infrastructure as Code (IaC) configuration file used to manage a cloud environment based on policy or best practices updates).
Claim 2 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Aleks in view of Kandasamy in view of Goldman in view of Tsoukalas et al. (US 10,678,678) (hereinafter Tsoukalas).
As per claim 2, Aleks in view of Kandasamy in view of Goldman do not explicitly teach wherein each execution module comprises one or more functions generally associated with the configuration and management of a particular type of computational resource.
However, Tsoukalas teaches wherein each execution module comprises one or more functions generally associated with the configuration and management of a particular type of computational resource (col. 6, ll. 39-63 functionality of execution module may be provided by a computing device of a system and performed automatically after an initial configuration stage, and the system may be implemented using resources of a multi-tenant provider network in which different services and systems collaborate to offer different types of resources to clients).
Tsoukalas and Aleks are both concerned with managing testing in computing systems and are therefore combinable/modifiable. 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 Aleks in view of Kandasamy in view of Goldman in view of Tsoukalas because it would provide for faster or more efficient use of computers due to the reduction of tests to run in comparison to a full test suite, reduced memory and storage requirements due to the smaller size of a selected test suite in comparison to a full test suite, reduced network usage due to the smaller size of a selected test suite in comparison to a full test suite, reduced developer time and computational resources in analyzing and determining the membership of a set of tests, reduced developer time and computational resources in developing a test plan, and improved scalability for identifying and running tests by automatically selecting the most relevant tests for a particular version of a software product.
Claim 3 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Aleks in view of Kandasamy in view of Goldman in view of Sahin (US 2021/0182118).
As per claim 3, Aleks in view of Kandasamy in view of Goldman do not explicitly teach wherein jobs issued by the master include one or more function-execution requests and are associated with targeting information that allows each minion to determine whether or not they should locally execute the job.
However, Sahin teaches wherein jobs issued by the master include one or more function-execution requests and are associated with targeting information that allows each minion to determine whether or not they should locally execute the job ([0032] and [0043] determine whether to execute the task locally).
Sahin and Aleks are both concerned with task management in computing systems and are therefore combinable/modifiable. 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 Aleks in view of Kandasamy in view of Goldman in view of Sahin because in an offloading framework, erroneous reception of the offloaded tasks may result in execution latency and/or the termination of the application or tasks. The local device may employ techniques to identify errors in the received bits/packets corresponding to the offloaded task. For example, the local device may implement a form of robust transmission in the wireless medium, which for example, may utilize an acknowledgement procedure for error handling.
Claim 4 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Aleks in view of Kandasamy in view of Goldman in view of Seaborn et al. (US 2024/0275584) (hereinafter Seaborn).
As per claim 4, Aleks in view of Kandasamy in view of Goldman do not explicitly teach wherein each grain is local information encoded in a set of key/attribute pairs collected and stored by a minion with regard to characteristics and parameters of the minion relevant to cloud-infrastructure management by the master.
However, Seaborn teaches wherein each grain is local information encoded in a set of key/attribute pairs collected and stored by a minion ([0105] metadata may comprise encrypted versions of the attribute name/key-attribute value pairs and [0007] storing, in an attribute-value data structure, for each candidate attribute value in each list of candidate attribute values for each attribute name, a corresponding locking metadata that is encrypted such that only keys of authorized user agents corresponding to the candidate attribute values can decrypt the corresponding locking metadata with regard to characteristics and parameters of the minion ([0030] JSON Web Token will specify characteristics of the entity requesting access to the computer resources) relevant to cloud-infrastructure management by the master ([0055]; [0068]; [0070] private and public cloud management).
Seaborn and Aleks are both concerned with task management in computing systems and are therefore combinable/modifiable. 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 Aleks in view of Kandasamy in view of Goldman in view of Seaborn because it would provide for a microservice architecture which facilitates distribution of the functionality of the authentication and authorization logic and token issuance logic to different computing devices which increases the security of the system against compromise.
Claim 5 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Aleks in view of Kandasamy in view of Goldman in view of Rolle et al. (US 2023/0176894) (hereinafter Rolle).
As per claim 5, Aleks in view of Kandasamy in view of Goldman do not explicitly teach wherein the master executes runner functions or routines upon request from a user or user application, the runner functions or routines calling execution-module functions that are sent, via an event bus, to, and executed by, one or more minions.
However, Rolle teaches wherein the master executes runner functions or routines upon request from a user or user application, the runner functions or routines calling execution-module functions that are sent, via an event bus, to, and executed by, one or more minions ([0144] each application receives events used for communications from the DPI service via the event bus and each application separately uses API calls for initiating DPI functions and sending messages to the DPI service, and connected applications and systems asynchronously receive messages from the DPI service via the event bus and can send responses asynchronously to the DPI service).
Rolle and Aleks are both concerned with task management in computing systems and are therefore combinable/modifiable. 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 Aleks in view of Kandasamy in view of Goldman in view of Rolle because it would provide a way to handle synchronous calls between systems which may take an unacceptable amount of time to complete. The aligned purpose disassociation solution can use a more efficient, central, and asynchronous approach. The aligned purpose disassociation approach can work even with landscapes in which a leading system is not defined for an object. Purpose disassociation per purpose can increase regulatory compliance, by ensuring that data is only processed for a purpose if that purpose is still valid, and by enabling one system to block data when appropriate without requiring waiting for a synchronous response from each system in the landscape.
Claim 7 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Aleks in view of Kandasamy in view of Goldman in view of Sahin in view of Rolle.
As per claim 7, Goldman teaches the minion accesses the configuration-and-management data files within a state tree to determine a relevant set of states to enforce ([0038] as each task represented in a task grain sub-tree is completed, the hub device can update the state of the task grain to indicate that the task is done and [0083] access files in file system ).
Aleks in view of Kandasamy in view of Goldman do not explicitly teach wherein the master applies states, contained in stored configuration-and-management data files, to minions by issuing state-application jobs to an event bus, the jobs detected by the minions, a minion using targeting information included in the job to decide whether to execute the job and, when the minion decided to execute the job, and then locally executes execution-module functions to execute state-module functions specified in state definitions within the configuration-and-management data files, as needed, to ensure that a local configuration of the minion corresponds to a configuration specified in the configuration-and-management data files.
However, Sahin teaches the jobs detected by the minions ([0053] trigger retransmission or local execution of the task, e.g., when an event or error is detected) and a minion using targeting information included in the job to decide whether to execute the job ([0060] offloading block may inform the remote entity about offloading characteristics during the task execution e.g., whether the task will be offloaded or executed locally) and, when the minion decided to execute the job ([0032] and [0049] utilize various factors to determine to execute task locally), and then locally executes execution-module functions to execute state-module functions specified in state definitions within the configuration-and-management data files ([0051] CPU provisioning configuration value dictates that task may be executed locally), as needed, to ensure that a local configuration of the minion corresponds to a configuration specified in the configuration-and-management data files ([0061] transmit configuration for resource configuration).
Sahin and Aleks are both concerned with task management in computing systems and are therefore combinable/modifiable. 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 Aleks in view of Kandasamy in view of Goldman in view of Sahin because in an offloading framework, erroneous reception of the offloaded tasks may result in execution latency and/or the termination of the application or tasks. The local device may employ techniques to identify errors in the received bits/packets corresponding to the offloaded task. For example, the local device may implement a form of robust transmission in the wireless medium, which for example, may utilize an acknowledgement procedure for error handling.
Sahin in view of Kandasamy in view of Goldman do not explicitly teach wherein the master applies states, contained in stored configuration-and-management data files, to minions by issuing state-application jobs to an event bus.
However, Rolle teaches wherein the master applies states, contained in stored configuration-and-management data files, to minions by issuing state-application jobs to an event bus ([0144] each application receives events used for communications from the DPI service via the event bus and each application separately uses API calls for initiating DPI functions and sending messages to the DPI service, and connected applications and systems asynchronously receive messages from the DPI service via the event bus and can send responses asynchronously to the DPI service).
Rolle and Aleks are both concerned with task management in computing systems and are therefore combinable/modifiable. 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 Aleks in view of Kandasamy in view of Goldman in view of in view of Sahin in view of Rolle because it would provide a way to handle synchronous calls between systems which may take an unacceptable amount of time to complete. The aligned purpose disassociation solution can use a more efficient, central, and asynchronous approach. The aligned purpose disassociation approach can work even with landscapes in which a leading system is not defined for an object. Purpose disassociation per purpose can increase regulatory compliance, by ensuring that data is only processed for a purpose if that purpose is still valid, and by enabling one system to block data when appropriate without requiring waiting for a synchronous response from each system in the landscape.
Claim 8 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Aleks in view of Kandasamy in view of Goldman in view of Sahin in view of Rolle in view of Gangumalla et al. (US 2019/0034454) (hereinafter Gangumalla).
As per claim 8, Aleks in view of Kandasamy in view of Goldman in view of Sahin in view of Rolle do not explicitly teach wherein a state tree is a hierarchical file-directory structure that includes a root directory and underlying subdirectories, each subdirectory containing configuration-and-management data files associated with a particular state module, with the state modules generally corresponding to different types of computational resources that are configured and managed by the master.
However, Gangumalla teaches wherein a state tree is a hierarchical file-directory structure that includes a root directory and underlying subdirectories ([0021] root directory includes a plurality of subdirectories that are organized in a tree data structure), each subdirectory containing configuration-and-management data files ([0039] leaf namenode is configured to manage files under the second subdirectory) associated with a particular state module ([0011]-[0012] system modules), with the state modules generally corresponding to different types of computational resources that are configured and managed by the master ([0075] manage system resources and control tasks that are run on, e.g., the file system device).
Gangumalla and Aleks are both concerned with task management in computing systems and are therefore combinable/modifiable. 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 Aleks in view of Kandasamy in view of Goldman in view of in view of Sahin in view of Rolle in view of Gangumalla because it would provide for an expandable tree-based indexing framework that enables convenient expansion of a file system for improving file system capacity of distributed processing systems. The file system may provide advantages over existing file system solutions because it can provide improved scalability, capacity, speed, and/or usability of the file system that facilitates the expansion of the file references with the simple addition of data storage devices or additional leaf index systems.
Claims 9-10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Aleks in view of Kandasamy in view of Goldman in view of Tsoukalas in view of Derdak et al. (US 2020/0241944) (hereinafter Derdak).
As per claim 9, Aleks in view of Kandasamy in view of Goldman in view of Tsoukalas do not explicitly teach wherein a configuration-and-management data file contains one or more state definitions, each state definition including:
a state identifier; and
one or more state-module-function calls.
However, Derdak teaches wherein a configuration-and-management data file contains one or more state definitions, each state definition including:
a state identifier ([0055] based on the key ID, the execution state, and/or the external output of the microservice, the execution module may execute the callback function and/or provide a set of input parameters to the callback function); and
one or more state-module-function calls ([0054] state module uses the key ID to associate the execution state with the original callout function).
Derdak and Aleks are both concerned with task management in computing systems and are therefore combinable/modifiable. 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 Aleks in view of Kandasamy in view of Goldman in view of Tsoukalas in view of Derdak because it would provide a multi-tenant, cloud-based architecture to improve collaboration, integration, and community-based cooperation between customer tenants without sacrificing data security. The multi-tenant design provides a number of advantages over conventional server virtualization systems. First, the multi-tenant platform operator can often make improvements to the platform based upon collective information from the entire tenant community. Additionally, because all users in the multi-tenant environment execute applications within a common processing space, it is relatively easy to grant or deny access to specific sets of data for any user within the multi-tenant platform, thereby improving collaboration and integration between applications and the data managed by the various applications. The multi-tenant architecture therefore allows convenient and cost-effective sharing of similar application features between multiple sets of users.
As per claim 10, Derdak teaches wherein a state-module-function call includes:
a name of the state module ([0080] state module records the name of the controller and the associated key ID);
a name of the function within the state module ([0050] execution module obtains the controller's name, callout function, callback function, and the key ID associated the controller); and
a set of one or more key/attribute-value pairs that include key/attribute-value pairs that contain argument values for the function call ([0095] receive an event indicating execution of the first callback function and an update a controller map including an entry having a key-value pair, wherein a key in the key-value pair is a name of the first controller, and a value in the key-value pair is a state of the first controller).
Claim 11 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Aleks in view of Kandasamy in view of Goldman in view of Tsoukalas in view of Derdak in view of Osaki (US 2024/0103992) in view of Kaplan et al. (US 2014/0149330) (hereinafter Kaplan).
As per claim 11, Aleks in view of Kandasamy in view of Goldman in view of Tsoukalas in view of Derdak do not explicitly teach wherein the describe state module includes a describe function that generates a configuration file that specifies the current state of a target server running a server-side cloud-infrastructure-management service.
However, Osaki teaches wherein the describe state module includes a describe function that generates a configuration file that specifies the current state of a target server ([0040] configuration file is meant to describe a desired status of multiple devices such as a server).
Osaki and Aleks are both concerned with task management in computing systems and are therefore combinable/modifiable. 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 Aleks in view of Kandasamy in view of Goldman in view of Tsoukalas in view of Derdak in view of Osaki because it would provide for rule manipulations which can facilitate automatically detecting temporary change around storage devices, and suggesting new alert rules depending on the change contents. By using revert detection, this can facilitate easy automatic rule manipulation in case of the same config changes occurs or the configuration is reverted which can help in reducing time consumption for conventional manual rule manipulation for storage device owners. By using the preapproval option, this can facilitate automating the storage device owner's task to approve alert rule manipulation for future scheduled maintenance.
Aleks in view of Kandasamy in view of Goldman in view of Tsoukalas in view of Derdak in view of Osaki do not explicitly teach a target server running a server-side cloud-infrastructure-management service.
However, Kaplan teaches a target server running a server-side cloud-infrastructure-management service ([0065] server-side module is implemented as a cloud computing service).
Kaplan and Aleks are both concerned with task management in computing systems and are therefore combinable/modifiable. 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 Aleks in view of Kandasamy in view of Goldman in view of Tsoukalas in view of Derdak in view of Osaki in view of Kaplan because it would provide a way for data and context collected from a user, and optionally from associated external sources, to be accomplished in a fully or semi-automatic manner. This minimizes or even eliminates disturbance to the user's normal flow of computer work. Advantageously, the collected context comprises multiple "contextual parameters" which, together with the data, allow the building of a meaningful, contextual knowledge database. In a fully-automatic collection, all collection operations are being done in the background, without the user being interrupted and prompted to input information. Advantageously, the knowledge database, which includes data put in context, may greatly enhance the training process of semantic search engines.
Claim 12 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Aleks in view of Kandasamy in view of Goldman in view of Tsoukalas in view of Derdak in view of Osaki in view of Kaplan in view of Sarig et al. (US 2009/0106595) (hereinafter Sarig) in view of Desai et al. (US 2007/0203957) (hereinafter Desai).
As per claim 12, Aleks in view of Kandasamy in view of Goldman in view of Tsoukalas in view of Derdak in view of Osaki in view of Kaplan do not explicitly teach wherein implementation of the describe function included in the describe state module includes addition of one or more information-returning functions to each state module, each information-returning function returning key/argument-value pairs for state-module function arguments in configuration-and-management data files and additional information needed for constructing configuration-and-management data files that represent the current state of a target server.
However, Sarig teaches wherein implementation of the describe function included in the describe state module includes addition of one or more information-returning functions to each state module ([0041] context data determined for a condition may comprise information that is gathered and stored by active state module such as information related to tagged functions).
Sarig and Aleks are both concerned with task management in computing systems and are therefore combinable/modifiable. 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 Aleks in view of Kandasamy in view of Goldman in view of Tsoukalas in view of Derdak in view of Osaki in view of Kaplan in view of Sarig because it would provide a way of gathering information during runtime of a monitored system such that the information is available for facilitating diagnostics for the monitored system. Upon detection of a condition (such as an error condition) in the monitored system, a portion of the gathered information provides contextual information that facilitates gathering of diagnostic data that is relevant for the detected condition. This facilitates capturing of diagnostic data that is relevant for diagnosing the detected condition
Aleks in view of Kandasamy in view of Goldman in view of Tsoukalas in view of Derdak in view of Osaki in view of Kaplan in view of Sarig do not explicitly teach each information-returning function returning key/argument-value pairs for state-module function arguments in configuration-and-management data files and additional information needed for constructing configuration-and-management data files that represent the current state of a target server.
However, Desai teaches each information-returning function returning key/argument-value pairs for state-module function arguments in configuration-and-management data files and additional information needed for constructing configuration-and-management data files that represent the current state of a target server ([0026] server obtains client status stored in configuration files and generates a key hash and key value for communication between the server and client).
Desai and Aleks are both concerned with task management in computing systems and are therefore combinable/modifiable. 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 Aleks in view of Kandasamy in view of Goldman in view of Tsoukalas in view of Derdak in view of Osaki in view of Kaplan in view of Sarig in view of Desai because it would provide for an automatic authentication process which affords a number of advantages and addresses a number of problems that are extant in many known backup processes. By using public key encryption to secure communications between the client computer and the backup server, and authentication, a process is provided that enables client computers on a network to be identified and to be automatically added to a backup database without the necessity of user or administrator intervention. Moreover, in enterprises with many sites having their own LANs and local backup servers, mobile clients can be automatically authenticated and added to the local backup database so they can be backed up. Furthermore, since the process avoids the need for passwords to access the clients, system administrators can push install backup software automatically on clients. This results in a substantial reduction in the time and effort required to configure clients in network environments.
Claim 13 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Aleks in view of Kandasamy in view of Goldman in view of Tsoukalas in view of Derdak in view of Osaki in view of Kaplan in view of Sarig in view of Desai in view of Chan et al. (US 2021/0382728) (hereinafter Chan) in view of Catt et al. (US 2025/0139804).
As per claim 13, Aleks in view of Kandasamy in view of Goldman in view of Tsoukalas in view of Derdak in view of Osaki in view of Kaplan in view of Sarig in view of Desai do not explicitly teach wherein the describe state module includes:
the describe function, which generates a configuration-and-management data file for a specified state module and target minion;
an all function, which generates a configuration-and-management data file for all state modules relevant to a specified target minion; and
a top function, which generates a top file for the configuration-and-management data files generated by the describe and all functions for a particular target minion. the top file matching relevant states to particular minions.
However, Chan teaches wherein the describe state module includes:
the describe function, which generates a configuration-and-management data file for a specified state module and target minion ([0079] generate configuration file to execution module and runtime state module);
an all function, which generates a configuration-and-management data file for all state modules relevant to a specified target minion ([0025] generate configuration file for different modules).
Chan and Aleks are both concerned with task management in computing systems and are therefore combinable/modifiable. 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 Aleks in view of Kandasamy in view of Goldman in view of Tsoukalas in view of Derdak in view of Osaki in view of Kaplan in view of Sarig in view of Desai in view of Chan because it would provide for a system configured to run jobs in Kubernetes based on PBS job inputs. The system may convert a PBS input, such as in the form of a PBS job command line input and/or a PBS job script, to a Kubernetes job configuration file. A Kubernetes system may then perform a job according to the Kubernetes job configuration file. Through implementation of the conversion process, PBS users can leverage the capabilities of Kubernetes to have jobs performed without having to know how to use Kubernetes.
Aleks in view of Kandasamy in view of Goldman in view of Tsoukalas in view of Derdak in view of Osaki in view of Kaplan in view of Sarig in view of Desai in view of Chan do not explicitly teach a top function, which generates a top file for the configuration-and-management data files generated by the describe and all functions for a particular target minion. the top file matching relevant states to particular minions.
However, Catt teaches a top function, which generates a top file for the configuration-and-management data files generated by the describe and all functions for a particular target minion. the top file matching relevant states to particular minions ([0024] determine an agent state, retrieve sensor details of the sensors associated with the agent, determine a pipeline in accordance with the sensor details and processing requirements for the agent data, validate additional data requirements are met for the pipeline, and generate the configuration file for the pipeline.).
Catt and Aleks are both concerned with task management in computing systems and are therefore combinable/modifiable. 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 Aleks in view of Kandasamy in view of Goldman in view of Tsoukalas in view of Derdak in view of Osaki in view of Kaplan in view of Sarig in view of Desai in view of Chan in view of Catt because it would provide for a process which allows pipelines to be created, which can then be used in processing agent data, for example to perform tasks related to processes. The use of pipelines in this manner has a number of advantages. For example, it allows a user to create a sequence of processing tasks, without needing to understand how each task is implemented, whilst suitable configuration of software modules associated with the nodes, allows these to be re-used in multiple pipelines. This reduces the complexity of performing data processing tasks.
Claims 14 and 22 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kairali et al. (US 11,556,238) (hereinafter Kairali) in view of Sarig in view of Thomsen et al. (US 2023/0131783) (hereinafter Thomsen) in view of Osaki in view of Kaplan.
As per claim 14, Kairali primarily teaches the invention as claimed including a method that enhances an infrastructure-as-code cloud-infrastructure-management service (col. 4, ll. 49-67 Infrastructure as Code and col. 5, ll. 40-66 IaC service) that manages cloud infrastructure provided by a distributed cloud-computing system (col. 15, ll. 49-54 distributed cloud computing environments).
Kairali does not explicitly teach:
adding of one or more information-returning functions to state module; and
adding a describe state module to state module which includes a describe function that generates a configuration file that specifies the current state of a target server running a server-side cloud-infrastructure-management service.
However, Sarig teaches adding of one or more information-returning functions to state module ([0041] context data determined for a condition may comprise information that is gathered and stored by active state module such as information related to tagged functions).
Sarig and Kairali are both concerned with task management in computing systems and are therefore combinable/modifiable. 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 Kairali in view of Sarig because it would provide a way of gathering information during runtime of a monitored system such that the information is available for facilitating diagnostics for the monitored system. Upon detection of a condition (such as an error condition) in the monitored system, a portion of the gathered information provides contextual information that facilitates gathering of diagnostic data that is relevant for the detected condition. This facilitates capturing of diagnostic data that is relevant for diagnosing the detected condition.
Kairali in view of Sarig do not explicitly teach adding a describe state module to state module which includes a describe function that generates a configuration file that specifies the current state of a target server running a server-side cloud-infrastructure-management service.
However, Thomsen teaches adding a describe state module to state module ([0066] grouping multiple state modules).
Thomsen and Kairali are both concerned with task management in computing systems and are therefore combinable/modifiable. 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 Kairali in view of Sarig in view of Thomsen because it would provide a platform that allows client applications to discover, visually represent, and interact with state machines executing on the control level of an industrial enterprise even if those client applications have no prior knowledge of those state machines. This eliminates the need to pre-define an information model on the client-level or server-level and programmatically connect the model to the tag data in the control level, thereby mitigating considerable development work that would otherwise be necessary to connect client-level applications to the control-level state machines. The controller development platform allows a user to create new state machine implementations from mutually defined sets of modular components, and the edge-level system discovers and represents these state machines on a client application, allowing the user to interact with the state machines via a client-side user interface, HMI, or other application. The system also allows third-party systems to discover and interface with control-level state machines, facilitating secure remote control of those machines from their custom applications. Moreover, the modular state machine components enforce the integrity of the state machine at the control level, eliminating the need for manual validation and testing.
Kairali in view of Sarig in view of Thomsen do not explicitly teach a describe function that generates a configuration file that specifies the current state of a target server running a server-side cloud-infrastructure-management service.
However, Osaki teaches a describe function that generates a configuration file that specifies the current state of a target server ([0040] configuration file is meant to describe a desired status of multiple devices such as server).
Osaki and Kairali are both concerned with task management in computing systems and are therefore combinable/modifiable. 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 Kairali in view of Sarig in view of Thomsen in view of Osaki because it would provide for rule manipulations which can facilitate automatically detecting temporary change around storage devices, and suggesting new alert rules depending on the change contents. By using revert detection, this can facilitate easy automatic rule manipulation in case of the same config changes occurs or the configuration is reverted which can help in reducing time consumption for conventional manual rule manipulation for storage device owners. By using the preapproval option, this can facilitate automating the storage device owner's task to approve alert rule manipulation for future scheduled maintenance.
Kairali in view of Sarig in view of Thomsen in view of Osaki do not explicitly teach a target server running a server-side cloud-infrastructure-management service.
However, Kaplan teaches a target server running a server-side cloud-infrastructure-management service ([0065] server-side module is implemented as a cloud computing service).
Kaplan and Kairali are both concerned with task management in computing systems and are therefore combinable/modifiable. 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 Kairali in view of Sarig in view of Thomsen in view of Osaki in view of Kaplan because it would provide a way for data and context collected from a user, and optionally from associated external sources, to be accomplished in a fully or semi-automatic manner. This minimizes or even eliminates disturbance to the user's normal flow of computer work. Advantageously, the collected context comprises multiple "contextual parameters" which, together with the data, allow the building of a meaningful, contextual knowledge database. In a fully-automatic collection, all collection operations are being done in the background, without the user being interrupted and prompted to input information. Advantageously, the knowledge database, which includes data put in context, may greatly enhance the training process of semantic search engines.
As per claim 22, it has similar limitations as claim 14 and is therefore rejected using the same rationale.
Claims 15-21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kairali in view of Sarig in view of Thomsen in view of Osaki in view of Kaplan in view of the appropriately cited references above to claims 1, 6-10 and 12-13.
For the sake of brevity, the rejections will not be duplicated below because they would be substantially similar as above.
As per claim 15, it has similar limitations as claim 1 and is therefore rejected using the same rationale.
As per claim 16, it has similar limitations as claim 6 and is therefore rejected using the same rationale.
As per claim 17, it has similar limitations as claim 7 and is therefore rejected using the same rationale.
As per claim 18, it has similar limitations as claim 8 and is therefore rejected using the same rationale.
As per claim 19, it has similar limitations as claim 9 and claim 10 and is therefore rejected using the same rationale.
As per claim 20, it has similar limitations as claim 12 and is therefore rejected using the same rationale.
As per claim 21, it has similar limitations as claim 13 and is therefore rejected using the same rationale.
Citation of Relevant Prior Art
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to Applicant's disclosure:
Ostrand et al. (US 2022/0353341) disclose efficient deployment of cloud resources.
Sivakumar et al. (US 2023/0185672) disclose edged cloud application backup.
Oluyemi et al. (US 2022/0308929) disclose provisioning cloud computing resources.
Nguyen et al. (US 2023/0409346) disclose cloud infrastructure management.
Kwatra et al. (US 2024/0086190) disclose optimized build environments on cloud platforms.
Howley et al. (US 2023/0259390) disclose an infrastructure as a code service.
Copty et al. (US 2023/0075183) disclose migrating infrastructure as code between different cloud providers.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Adam Lee whose telephone number is (571) 270-3369. The examiner can normally be reached on M-TH 8AM-5PM.
If attempts to reach the above noted Examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the Examiner’s supervisor, Pierre Vital, can be reached at the following telephone number: (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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/Adam Lee/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2198 January 28, 2026