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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 01/06/2026 has been entered.
Response to Amendment
The amendment filed 01/06/2026 has been entered. Applicant has amended claims 1, 3, 6, 8 and 9. Claims 3 and 10 have been cancelled. Claims 1, 6-9, and 11 are currently pending in the instant application.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see pages 7-9, filed 05/27/2025, with respect to the rejection(s) of claim(s) 1, 3, and 6-11 under 35 U.S.C. 103 have been fully considered and are persuasive. Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new ground(s) of rejection is made in further view of Aoki et al (US-20220021580-A1). Aoki teaches the amended claims as seen in the current rejection below.
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.
Claim 1, 6-9 and 11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim 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.
Claims 1, 8 and 9 recites the limitation "the plurality of nodes hold" in line 6. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. Examiner recommends amending the claims in a matter that the language is consistent regarding the nodes.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness
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, 3, and 6-11 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over YOSHINAGA et al (WO2018092679A1) in view of SONODA et al (US 2018/0191614) and Aoki et al (US-20220021580-A1).
Regarding claim 1, Yoshinaga teaches
1. (Currently Amended) A file management apparatus provided in a first node belonging to a communication network, the file management apparatus having one or more processors that execute a process comprising (page 4 - Further, the management device according to the present invention is one of a plurality of groups for specifying a file to be held by itself, and a group different from an adjacent node device is preferentially assigned on the network topology. When a file associated with information indicating the group to which it belongs is received): receiving a request for acquiring the first file from the first node (page 5 - Further, the network 1 includes a distribution server 2 that is a computer that stores an original file and distributes the file in response to a request from a node); identifying the acquisition destination of the first file by the first node by referring to the management information (page 3 - Associated with the information shown. In addition, when a node device receives a file associated with information indicating a group to which the node device belongs, the node device temporarily stores the file as a cache file and a file requested by another node device. A cache transmission unit that transmits the cache file to another node device when the corresponding cache file is held).; and instructing the acquisition destination to transmit the first file to the first node. (page 3 - Associated with the information shown. In addition, when a node device receives a file associated with information indicating a group to which the node device belongs, the node device temporarily stores the file as a cache file and a file requested by another node device. A cache transmission unit that transmits the cache file to another node device when the corresponding cache file is held).
Yoshinaga does not explicitly teach acquiring first information relating to connection relationships of a plurality of nodes belonging to the communication network and second information relating to files that the plurality of nodes hold; when the second information indicates that a plurality of nodes belonging to the communication network hold a first file, generating, based on the first information, index values relative to the first node for each of the plurality of nodes holding the first file; generating and managing management information indicating an acquisition destination of the first file by the first node, based on the index values;
Sonoda teaches acquiring first information relating to connection relationships of nodes belonging to the communication network and second information relating to files that the plurality of nodes hold ([0064] With the above configuration, if the connection relationship among the communication apparatus serving as a packet destination and the forwarding nodes is changed, the control apparatus previously notifies a forwarding node (switch) of a processing rule for processing packets addressed to the communication apparatus. When the forwarding node (switch) receives a packet addressed to the communication apparatus, since a processing rule has already been set, the forwarding node (switch) does not request the control apparatus to set a processing rule. Thus, according to an exemplary embodiment, since the number of requests for processing rules from switches is reduced, load on the control apparatus can be reduced.); when the second information indicates that among the nodes belonging to the communication network hold a first file, ([0058] The path and action calculation unit 13 includes a means of calculating a packet forwarding path based on the topology information managed by the topology management unit 11. In addition, the path and action calculation unit 12 serves as a means of referring to information about each forwarding node 20 managed by the forwarding node management unit 14 (for example, capability information about each forwarding node 20) and determining a processing content (action) to be executed by each forwarding node 20. Examples of the capability information about each forwarding node 20 include the number of ports of each forwarding node, the types of the ports, and the types of the actions supported. The capability information is not limited to the above information. Namely, arbitrary information may be used as the capability information.) generating, index values relative to the first node for each of the plurality of nodes holding the first file; ([0056] The topology management unit 11 establishes network topology information, based on the connection relationship between the forwarding nodes 20-1 and 20-2 collected via the node communication unit 17. If the topology information is changed, the topology management unit 11 notifies the path and action calculation unit 13 of change of the topology information, to cause the path and action calculation unit 13 to reset existing processing rules, for example) generating and managing management information indicating an acquisition destination of the first file by the first node, based on the index values ([0064] With the above configuration, if the connection relationship among the communication apparatus serving as a packet destination and the forwarding nodes is changed, the control apparatus previously notifies a forwarding node (switch) of a processing rule for processing packets addressed to the communication apparatus. When the forwarding node (switch) receives a packet addressed to the communication apparatus, since a processing rule has already been set, the forwarding node (switch) does not request the control apparatus to set a processing rule. Thus, according to an exemplary embodiment, since the number of requests for processing rules from switches is reduced, load on the control apparatus can be reduced.);
Accordingly, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the
effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the teachings of Yoshinaga to include acquiring first information relating to connection relationships of a plurality of nodes belonging to the communication network and second information relating to files that the plurality of nodes hold; when the second information indicates that a plurality of nodes belonging to the communication network hold a first file, generating, based on the first information, index values relative to the first node for each of the plurality of nodes holding the first file; generating and managing management information indicating an acquisition destination of the first file by the first node, based on the index values as taught by Sonoda. It would
be advantageous since the number of requests for processing rules from switches is reduced, load on the control apparatus can be reduced as seen in the cited sections of Sonoda.
Yoshinaga in view of Sonoda does not explicitly teach generating, index values relative to the first node for each of the plurality of nodes holding the first file based on a distance of a communication route via which the first file is to be transmitted;
Yoshinaga in view of Sonoda does not explicitly teach generating, index values relative to the first node for each of the plurality of nodes holding the first file based on a distance of a communication route via which the first file is to be transmitted; ([0096] When determining the connection destination based on the location of the physical node specified by the location specifying part 13a, the physical node having a short relative distance (within a predetermined distance) to the device 5 utilizing the service may be determined as an optimum physical node. When the device 5 is a moving body, a physical node having a short relative distance to the device 5 after the device 5 stops moving may be determined as the optimum physical node. Such a determination is effective under a condition that the number of network hops decreases as a relative distance between an application arranged on the device 5 and an application arranged on the physical node becomes short. For example, when the device 5 as a mobile body whose connection destination is a server located in Osaka moves from Osaka to Tokyo, a server located in Tokyo may be utilized as a new connection destination, and thereby the relative distance between the application arranged on the server located in Tokyo and the application arranged on the device 5 becomes close and the determination of the physical node is optimized. And [0098]).
Accordingly, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the
effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the teachings of Yoshinaga in view Sonoda to include generating, index values relative to the first node for each of the plurality of nodes holding the first file based on a distance of a communication route via which the first file is to be transmitted as taught by Aoki It would be advantageous since it allows faster access of the data as opposed to accessing nodes further away which results in longer execution times as taught by the cited sections of Aoki.
Regarding claim 6, Yoshinaga in view of Sonoda and Aoki teaches The file management apparatus according to claim 1, Yoshinaga further teaches wherein:the generating and managing the management information comprises managing management information in which a plurality of layers constituting a the first file and acquisition destinations of each of the plurality of layers by the first node are associated;the identifying the acquisition destination of the first file by the first node comprises identifying the acquisition destinations of each of the plurality of layers by the first node by referring to the management information; andthe instructing comprises instructing the acquisition destinations of each of the plurality of layers by the first node to transmit a layer constituting the first file that the acquisition destinations hold(page 4 - Also, the file may be divided into a plurality of partial files by the secret sharing method, and information indicating different groups may be associated with each partial file. In this way, information leakage can be prevented).
Regarding claim 7, Yoshinaga in view of Sonoda and Aoki teaches The file management apparatus according to claim 6, Yoshinaga further teaches wherein the process further comprises restoring the first file using the layers transmitted in response to instruction at the instructing (page 4 - In addition, the cache holding unit is based on a white list for specifying a file that is permitted to be cached, a black list for specifying a file that is prohibited to be cached, or a flag indicating whether the file has a cache. It may be determined whether to retain the received file. In this way, a file that prohibits caching can be explicitly defined, and for example, leakage of secret information can be prevented).
Regarding claim 11, Yoshinaga in view of Sonoda and Aoki teaches teaches The file management apparatus according to claim 1, Sonoda further teaches wherein each node of the communication network is connected in a hierarchical ring topology; and the acquisition destination of the first file is connected to the same ring as the first node.([0083] In the exemplary embodiment, the virtual machine management apparatus 400 notifies the path and action calculation unit 13 of the logical network information. When notified of the logical network information, the path and action calculation unit 13 determines a forwarding path for packets addressed to the virtual machine 320, based on the information about the forwarding node 20 stored in the topology management unit 11 and the information about the virtual forwarding node 310 included in the supplied logical network information. The path and action calculation unit 13 grasps that the forwarding node 20 is connected to the virtual forwarding node 310, based on the capability information about the forwarding node 20 stored in the topology management unit 11 (for example, the number of ports, the types of the ports, the types of the actions supported, etc.). In addition, the path and action calculation unit 13 grasps that the virtual forwarding node 310 is connected to the virtual machine 320 as a packet destination, based on capabilities of the virtual forwarding node 310 included in the logical network information (for example, the number of ports, the types of the ports, the types of the actions supported, etc.).)
Accordingly, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the
effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the teachings of Yoshinaga to include wherein each node of the communication network is connected in a hierarchical ring topology; and the acquisition destination of the first file is connected to the same ring as the first node as taught by Sonoda. It would
be advantageous since the number of requests for processing rules from switches is reduced, load on the control apparatus can be reduced as seen in the cited sections of Sonoda.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SAMUEL SHARPLESS whose telephone number is (571)272-1521. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 7:30 AM- 3:30 PM (ET).
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/S.C.S./Examiner, Art Unit 2165
/ALEKSANDR KERZHNER/ Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2165
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