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 .
Claims 1-20 are pending.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1, 3-5, 9, 10, 12, 13, and 15-18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Bernat et al. (US 2023/0259185).
Bernat was cited in the 01/16/2025 IDS.
With respect to claim 1, Bernat discloses: determining a priority level associated with a workload ([0102], [0131], priority levels are included in the SLA, cooling is based on those priority levels, the workload can be an application executed in a virtual machine or container);
determining, based on the priority level associated with the workload, a threshold cooling level of a computing unit implementing the workload ([0121], [0131], [0136], [0140], [0207]; “2404” in Fig. 24; expected cooling parameters can include expected temperatures of the component, which are determined based on SLAs);
receiving, a current temperature of the computing unit implementing the workload ([0043], [0121], [0137], [0209], “2408” in Fig. 24; “actual temperatures of the components”); and
adjusting, based on the threshold cooling level of the computing unit implementing the workload and the current temperature of the computing unit implementing the workload, a usage level of a cooling system cooling the computing unit implementing the workload ([0122], [0134], [0138]-[0140], [0155]-[0157], [0210]-[0213]; cooling fluid is redistributed based on comparing actual temperatures to expected temperatures; “2416” in Fig. 24).
With respect to claim 3, Bernat discloses: wherein determining a priority level associated with the workload further comprising: receiving the workload at a virtual machine (VM); determining a priority level of the workload; and determining the priority level associated with the VM based on the priority level of the workload ([0115], [0126], “perform a workload (e.g., an application 1632 executed in a virtual machine)).
With respect to claim 4, Bernat discloses: wherein determining a priority level of the workload further comprising: determining the workload type as being one of a production workload and a non- production workload; and assigning a higher priority level to a production workload compared to a priority level assigned to a non-production workload ([0102]-[0103], [0115]).
With respect to claim 5, Bernat discloses: wherein determining a priority level of the workload further comprising: determining the workload type as being one of a latency-critical workload and a non- latency-critical workload; and assigning a higher priority level to a latency-critical workload compared to a priority level assigned to a non-latency-critical workload (id.).
With respect to claim 9, Bernat discloses: wherein the cooling system includes at least one cooling fans configured to cool the computing unit implementing the workload ([0043], [0054], [0056], [0062]’ “fan speed” or “fan use”).
With respect to claims 10, 12, and 13, they recite similar limitations as claims 1, 4, and 5, respectively, and are therefore rejected under the same citations and rationale.
With respect to claims 15-18, they recite similar limitations as claims 1, 3-5, respectively, and are therefore rejected under the same citations and rationale.
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.
Claim(s) 2 and 11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Bernat et al. (US 2023/0259185) in view of Seo et al. (US 10120426).
With respect to claim 2, Bernat does not specifically disclose: wherein the threshold cooling level of a computing unit implementing a high priority workload is lower than a threshold cooling level of a computing unit implementing a low priority workload.
However, Seo discloses: wherein the threshold cooling level of a computing unit implementing a high priority workload is lower than a threshold cooling level of a computing unit implementing a low priority workload (col. 18, line 44 – line 30 of col. 19; col. 27, lines 27-45).
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to incorporate the thermal management techniques of Seo to ensure a required performance based on the importance of a task is guaranteed (col. 3, lines 36-41, Seo).
With respect to claim 11, it recites similar limitations as claim 2 and is, therefore, rejected under the same citations and rationale.
Claim(s) 6-8, 14, 19, and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Bernat et al. (US 2023/0259185) in view of Kumar (WO 2015/183528).
Kumar was cited in the 01/16/2025 IDS.
With respect to claim 6, Bernat does not specifically disclose: determining a throttling residency of a workload at the computing unit implementing the workload; comparing the throttling residency with a throttling residency threshold of the workload; and in response to determining that throttling residency of the workload at the computing unit implementing the workload is above the throttling residency threshold of the workload, increasing the cooling of the computing unit implementing the workload.
However, Kumar discloses: determining a throttling residency of a workload at the computing unit implementing the workload; comparing the throttling residency with a throttling residency threshold of the workload; and in response to determining that throttling residency of the workload at the computing unit implementing the workload is above the throttling residency threshold of the workload, increasing the cooling of the computing unit implementing the workload ([0005]-[0006], [0041], [0045], [0054], [0056], [0062], [0068]).
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to incorporate the teachings of Kumar to reduce power consumption by putting the CPU in a low power state when required. Reducing power consumption by CPU throttling reduces costs as well as lowers temperatures.
With respect to claim 7, Kumar discloses: wherein the throttling residency threshold of the task is based on a priority level of the workload (id., Bernat discloses workloads can be executing in a virtual machine in [0102]).
With respect to claim Kumar discloses: wherein the throttling residency threshold of the VM is based on an energy performance preference (EPP) parameter associated with the computing unit implementing the workload ([0005]-[0006], [0041], [0045], [0054], [0056], [0062], [0068], Bernat discloses workloads can be executing in a virtual machines in [0102]).
With respect to claim 14, it recites similar limitations as claim 6 and is, therefore, rejected under the same citations and rational.
With respect to claims 19, and 20, they recite similar limitations as claims 6 and 7, and are, therefore, rejected under the same citations and rational.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Illikkal et al. (US 8799902): Priority aware power management logic receives priority levels of software entities and modifies operating points of processing elements associated with the software entities accordingly. Therefore, in a power savings mode, processing elements executing low priority applications/tasks are reduced to a lower operating point, i.e. lower voltage, lower frequency, throttled instruction issue, throttled memory accesses, and/or less access to shared resources. In addition, utilization logic potentially tracks utilization of a resource per priority level, which allows the power manager to determine operating points based on the effect of each priority level on each other from the perspective of the resources themselves. Moreover, a software entity itself may assign operating points, which the power manager enforces.
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/WISSAM RASHID/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2195