DETAILED ACTION
This communication responsive to the Application No. 18/575,066 filed on 12/28/2023. Claims 1-10 are pending and are directed towards DATA SEGMENTATION STORAGE METHOD THROUGH PARTICIPATION OF STORAGE NODES.
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.
The claim is rejected for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the invention as required in 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, second paragraph. The title of the article in which the design is embodied or applied is too ambiguous and therefore indefinite for the examiner to make a proper examination of the claim under 37 CFR 1.104.
Claim 6 recites “necessary for contract processing”. It is unclear since no data is stated to be unnecessary and it is unclear what is required of indicating necessity of an element which is already shown. Hence, claim 6 is being rejected under 35 U.S.C 112 (b).
Claim 8 recites "according to needs thereof”. It is unclear what the needs are and what does it adds to “operate an arbiter”, hence is ambiguous. Therefore, claim 8 is being rejected under 35 U.S.C 112 (b).
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.
Claims 1-10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chiu et al. (US 20200213084 A1), hereinafter referred to as Chiu, in view of Maeda et al. (US 20190188086 A1) hereinafter referred to as Maeda.
As per claim 1, Chiu discloses a data segmentation storage method through participation of storage nodes, which is a method of segmenting and storing data through participation of storage nodes in a blockchain, each step of the method being performed by a computer system, the method comprising steps of:
a) grouping a certain number of blocks into one group to form generation blocks, which are a block assembly, when the number of blocks in a blockchain reaches a preset certain number; (At block S202, the plurality of data blocks are stored in batches according to a preset storage period to form a plurality of data segments and each data segment is written to the blockchain, Chiu, para [0018]. Here, the generation block corresponds to a data segment that represents a grouped set of blockchain blocks. The certain number is interpreted as a batching criterion like grouping multiple blocks into one segment. The blocked assembly is analogous to the data segment structure that aggregates multiple blocks).
c) storing status data of a last block of a first generation (Generation 1) block in a second generation (Generation 2) block in the generation blocks; (Each data segment includes metadata such as starting and ending block number and a data segment verification code for verifying the segment when searching and synchronizing, verification of a later data segment can be used to verify earlier blocks within the covered range, Chiu, para [0020]. The status data is analogous to summary/verification information representing the state at the end of a segment of blocks. Storing that in a second-generation block is analogous to including the verification code and boundary metadata of earlier blocks in the subsequent data segment structure which encodes the state at the segment boundary)
d) storing status data of a last block of the second generation (Generation 2) block in a third generation (Generation 3) block in the generation blocks; and (A main function performed by the administrator 30 is to join new nodes and store data for the data blocks in batches. An earlier written data block may be stored as the same data segment as the current data block, or may be stored as a different data segment from the current data block. Index number 1032 is to be found, and the currently searched data segment is the data segment 3 corresponding to data blocks 203~304, Chiu, para [0014] and [0041]. The third-generation block is mapped to the next data segment written after the second segment. The chain of segments is analogous to chain of generation blocks that carry forward state summaries)
e) repeatedly performing a series of processes of storing status data of a last block of an immediately previous generation block in a subsequent generation block on the same principle as a principle of the steps c) and d), up to an Nth generation block. (The method for storing data establishes a blockchain network, a plurality of data blocks being stored on nodes of the blockchain network. The plurality of data blocks is stored in batches to form a plurality of data segments according to a preset storage period. Each data segment written to the blockchain network is encrypted and newly added data blocks are synchronized with the data blocks which are not stored in the data segment, Chiu, Abstract).
However, Chiu does not explicitly disclose the limitation:
b) dividing data of each block of the generation blocks into transaction data and status data;
Maeda discloses:
b) dividing data of each block of the generation blocks into transaction data and status data; (The new block can include a plurality of transactions. Transaction storage data can indicate the plurality of transactions and specify, for each of the plurality of transactions, which of a plurality of computing nodes are to keep the transaction in the new block, Maeda, para [0003]. Here, the transaction data is interpreted to be the plurality of transactions that the block comprises. Additional data which is distinct from the raw transactions, is introduced which is called transaction storage data. The transaction storage data is metadata about transactions and identifies each transaction and encodes which nodes should store it. The new block can include a plurality of transactions and transaction storage data can be generated for the new block. This supports data of each block being divided into a transaction payload portion (transaction data) and a metadata/assignment portion (status data))
A person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention would have combined Chiu with Maeda by storing data establishing a blockchain network (Chiu) and redundancy reduction in blockchain networks (Maeda). It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Chiu with Maeda in order to effectively provide a blockchain data storage scalability solution (See Maeda, Abstract)
As per claim 2, Chiu and Maeda disclose the method according to claim 1, further comprising
Furthermore, Chiu discloses:
a step of verifying and synchronizing the generation blocks by entrants to a new blockchain network after the step e) (At block S204, newly added data blocks are synchronized with the running data blocks which are not stored as the data segment and then all are stored after the storage period expires, Chiu, para [0033]. Entrants to the blockchain are analogous to the newly added data blocks. Verifying and synchronizing the blocks is analogous to verifying blocks via consensus and obtaining a synchronizing local blockchain copy. After step e) corresponds to the state where multiple generations/ segments of blocks already exist, and the new node must sync them).
As per claim 3, Chiu and Maeda disclose the method according to claim 2, wherein
Furthermore, Maeda discloses:
the verifying and synchronizing the generation blocks by entrants to a new blockchain network comprises verifying and synchronizing all generation blocks from the first generation (Generation 1) block to an Nth generation (Generation N) block or verifying and synchronizing blocks from status data of a last generation block (Adding the generated transaction storage data to the new block and communicating the new block to the plurality of computing nodes, Maeda, para [0003]. This shows a node obtaining block data, processing state/ transaction information, and updating its local blockchain copy, a form of verification and synchronization).
A person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention would have combined Chiu with Maeda by storing data establishing a blockchain network (Chiu) and redundancy reduction in blockchain networks (Maeda). It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Chiu with Maeda in order to effectively provide a blockchain data storage scalability solution (See Maeda, Abstract)
As per claim 4, Chiu and Maeda disclose the method according to claim 1, wherein
Furthermore, Chiu discloses:
the certain number of blocks is 256 in the step a) (The index number of the transaction record is preset in advance by the administrator 30 to the search command in advance. For example, 1032 is shown as the index number, from the current data block 304, Chiu, para [0038]. This is a specific implementation choice of the preset grouping parameter. The preset number covers a predetermined grouping rule, which is the quantity of blocks such as 256).
As per claim 5, Chiu and Maeda disclose the method according to claim 1, wherein,
Furthermore, Maeda discloses:
when the data of each block is divided into transaction data and status data in the step b), pieces of transaction data of each block, the number of which has become greater than or equal to a certain number, is cut as one bundle and divided as a generation block, and status values of the divided status are divided as status data (Each computing node receiving the new block can identify the transaction storage data in the new block and, from the transaction storage data, determine which transactions it is to keep. The computing node receiving the new block can selectively remove (e.g., delete) from its respective copy of the new block the transactions that it is not specified to keep. Each computing node can add its respective copy of the new block, having a portion of the transactions removed, to its respective version of the blockchain, Maeda, para [0018]. Aggregating a plurality of transactions into a new block for which transaction storage data is generated is analogous to cut as one bundle. The condition for including multiple transactions in the new block is analogous to certain number threshold. Status values are the transaction storage data and node-assignment information that represent per-transaction state).
A person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention would have combined Chiu with Maeda by storing data establishing a blockchain network (Chiu) and redundancy reduction in blockchain networks (Maeda). It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Chiu with Maeda in order to effectively provide a blockchain data storage scalability solution (See Maeda, Abstract)
As per claim 6, Chiu and Maeda disclose the method according to claim 1, wherein
Furthermore, Chiu discloses:
the step b) comprises designating the status data as data necessary for contract processing (Each data segment includes information of the data segment which comprises a data segment size, a storage time, a starting block number, an ending block number and location. There is a process of searching for a transaction record including verifying the data segment verification code when searching earlier or later blocks, Chiu, para [0020], [0052]. Here, the contract processing is similar to processing and verifying blockchain transactions/records, which requires correct state and integrity metadata. The data segment verification code and boundary metadata must be accessed whenever transaction records are looked up or validated, so they are necessary for processing the transactions (contracts) recorded in the blockchain. The data necessary for contract processing is the same metadata used as required input to correctly locate and verify transaction records when performing blockchain operations i.e., during the functional equivalent of contract processing).
As per claim 7, Chiu and Maeda disclose the method according to claim 1, wherein,
Furthermore, Maeda discloses:
when an arbiter is designated to serve as a storage node that stores a current generation block and provides a connection point for each piece of generation block data in the steps c) to e), blockchain network participants are given authority to delete block data corresponding to a previous generation block (Plurality of computing nodes are to keep the transaction in the new block and adding the generated transaction storage data to the new block and also includes communicating the new block to the plurality of computing nodes. A given nodes receives the new block, reads the transaction storage data, removes transactions it is not designated to store and stores a modified new block as a part of a local copy of the blockchain. Each computing node receiving the new block can identify the transaction storage data in the new block and, from the transaction storage data, determine which transactions it is to keep. The computing node receiving the new block can selectively remove (e.g., delete) from its respective copy of the new block the transactions that it is not specified to keep. Each computing node can add its respective copy of the new block, having a portion of the transactions removed, to its respective version of the blockchain, Maeda, para [0003], [0018]. Here, arbiter being the storage node is analogous to the computing nodes that receive the full new block from which other nodes derive what they must keep. Such a node effectively acts as a source/ anchor for the current block and its assignment metadata. The connection point for each piece of generation block data is interpreted as the node that communicates the new block containing transaction data and transaction storage data to the plurality of computing nodes, thereby acting as the logical connection point through which participants obtain the generation block data they are supposed to keep. Selective removal of transactions indicates that the node discards redundant transaction data and keeps what the transaction storage data indicates, this is effectively participants being the authority to delete block data corresponding to a previous generation block).
A person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention would have combined Chiu with Maeda by storing data establishing a blockchain network (Chiu) and redundancy reduction in blockchain networks (Maeda). It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Chiu with Maeda in order to effectively provide a blockchain data storage scalability solution (See Maeda, Abstract)
As per claim 8, Chiu and Maeda disclose the method according to claim 7, wherein
Furthermore, Maeda discloses:
validator nodes that operate a blockchain network construct and operate an arbiter according to needs thereof (The computing environment 100 can include a plurality of computing nodes 110, 112, 114, 116. Maeda, para [0031]. It assumes a blockchain network with multiple computing nodes participating in the maintenance of the blockchain and includes steps where these nodes perform storage decision based on transactions storage data, Maeda, Fig 6. Here, construct and operate an arbiter is interpreted as the design and use of transaction storage data and block-distribution logic that together realize the arbiter behavior. The coordinated generation and distribution by generation the transaction storage data specifying which nodes must keep which transactions and the nodes add the transaction storage data to the new block and communicate the new block to the plurality of computing nodes, is analogous to arbiter function constructed and operated by the blockchain’s computing/validator nodes to balance storage needs)
A person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention would have combined Chiu with Maeda by storing data establishing a blockchain network (Chiu) and redundancy reduction in blockchain networks (Maeda). It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Chiu with Maeda in order to effectively provide a blockchain data storage scalability solution (See Maeda, Abstract)
As per claim 9, Chiu disclose a data segmentation storage method through participation of storage nodes, which is a method of segmenting and storing data through participation of storage nodes in a blockchain, each step of the method being performed by a computer system, the method comprising steps of:
a) grouping a certain number of blocks into one group to form generation blocks, which are a block assembly, when the number of blocks in a blockchain reaches a preset certain number; (At block S202, the plurality of data blocks are stored in batches according to a preset storage period to form a plurality of data segments and each data segment is written to the blockchain, Chiu, para [0018]. Here, the generation block corresponds to a data segment that represents a grouped set of blockchain blocks. The certain number is interpreted as a batching criterion like grouping multiple blocks into one segment. The blocked assembly is analogous to the data segment structure that aggregates multiple blocks).
c) storing status data of a last block of an nth generation block in an (n+1) th generation block in the generation blocks (A main function performed by the administrator 30 is to join new nodes and store data for the data blocks in batches. An earlier written data block may be stored as the same data segment as the current data block, or may be stored as a different data segment from the current data block. Index number 1032 is to be found, and the currently searched data segment is the data segment 3 corresponding to data blocks 203~304, Chiu, para [0014] and [0041]. The third-generation block is mapped to the next data segment written after the second segment. The chain of segments is analogous to chain of generation blocks that carry forward state summaries)
However, Chiu does not explicitly disclose the limitations:
b) dividing data of each block of the generation blocks into transaction data and status data; and
Maeda discloses:
b) dividing data of each block of the generation blocks into transaction data and status data; and (The new block can include a plurality of transactions. Transaction storage data can indicate the plurality of transactions and specify, for each of the plurality of transactions, which of a plurality of computing nodes are to keep the transaction in the new block, Maeda, para [0003]. Here, the transaction data is interpreted to be the plurality of transactions that the block comprises. Additional data which is distinct from the raw transactions, is introduced which is called transaction storage data. The transaction storage data is metadata about transactions and identifies each transaction and encodes which nodes should store it. The new block can include a plurality of transactions and transaction storage data can be generated for the new block. This supports data of each block being divided into a transaction payload portion (transaction data) and a metadata/assignment portion (status data))
A person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention would have combined Chiu with Maeda by storing data establishing a blockchain network (Chiu) and redundancy reduction in blockchain networks (Maeda). It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Chiu with Maeda in order to effectively provide a blockchain data storage scalability solution (See Maeda, Abstract)
As per claim 10, Chiu and Maeda disclose the method according to claim 9, further comprising
Furthermore, Chiu discloses:
a step of verifying and synchronizing the generation blocks by entrants to a new blockchain network (At block S204, newly added data blocks are synchronized with the running data blocks which are not stored as the data segment and then all are stored after the storage period expires, Chiu, para [0033]. Entrants to the blockchain are analogous to the newly added data blocks. Verifying and synchronizing the blocks is analogous to verifying blocks via consensus and obtaining a synchronizing local blockchain copy. After step e) corresponds to the state where multiple generations/ segments of blocks already exist, and the new node must sync them).
Conclusion
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Respectfully Submitted
/RAGHAVENDER NMN CHOLLETI/Examiner, Art Unit 2492
/RUPAL DHARIA/ Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2492