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
This Office Action corresponds to application 18/596,556 which was filed on 3/5/2024 and claims benefit of 63/494,004 filed 4/4/2023. Claims 1-20 are currently pending.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 101
35 U.S.C. 101 reads as follows:
Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.
Claims 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to an abstract idea without significantly more.
Step 1
The claims recite a method (claim 1) and a system (claim 16). These claims fall within at least one of the four categories of patentable subject matter.
Step 2A, Prong One
Claim 1 recites obtaining metadata, using the metadata to configure a first pipeline, obtain input to be transformed into encoded data and second metadata using the first pipeline, and configuring a second pipeline using the second metadata.
The recited steps are for receiving and data analysis, which are acts of information evaluation and retrieval that can be practically performed in the human mind. For example, a person can obtain instructions to format data, obtain the data, format it and use that data to provide instructions to unformat it. The data transform accelerator and pipelines are interpreted as generic computer components. Thus, these steps are an abstract idea in the “mental processes” grouping.
Dependent claims 2-15 recite additional elements of decoding the encoded data, specifying the data transform command comprises the metadata, specify the metadata is used to configure the first pipeline and the second metadata is generated by the second pipeline, specify the metadata comprises portions, specify that the metadata is used by the pipelines, specify and use the layout of the transformation command, specify the device is a host device, specify using NVMe PI as a standard, specify encryption and decryption of data in the first and second pipelines using the metadata. These are all further extensions of the abstract idea or mere extra-solution activity. For example, with claim 2, a person can unformat previously formatted data; and claim 3, a person can identify rules to format the data.
Claim 15 recites obtaining metadata, using the metadata to configure a first pipeline, obtain input to be transformed into encoded data and second metadata using the first pipeline, and configuring a second pipeline using the second metadata.
The recited steps are for receiving and data analysis, which are acts of information evaluation and retrieval that can be practically performed in the human mind. For example, a person can obtain instructions to format data, obtain the data, format it and use that data to provide instructions to unformat it. The data transform accelerator, data transform engines, processing device, and pipelines are interpreted as generic computer components. Thus, these steps are an abstract idea in the “mental processes” grouping.
Dependent claims 16-20 recite additional elements of decoding the encoded data, specify the metadata comprises portions, specify that the metadata is used by the pipelines, specify using NVMe PI as a standard, specify encryption and decryption of data in the first and second pipelines using the metadata. These are all further extensions of the abstract idea or mere extra-solution activity. For example, with claim 17, a person can unformat previously formatted data; and claim 18, a person can use multiple portions of formatting instructions.
Step 2A, Prong Two
This judicial exception is not integrated into a practical application because the combination of additional elements includes only generic computer elements which do not add a meaningful limitation to the abstract idea because they amount to simply implementing the abstract idea on a computer.
For claims 1-15, the additional elements the data transform accelerator and pipelines.
For claims 16-20, the additional elements include the data transform accelerator, data transform engines, processing device, and pipelines.
The data transform accelerator, data transform engines, processing device, and pipelines are all recited at a high-level of generality (i.e., as a generic computer function) such that it amounts no more than mere instructions to apply the exception using a generic computer component. Accordingly, these additional elements do not integrate the abstract idea into a practical application because it does not impose any meaningful limits on practicing the abstract idea. The claims are directed to an abstract idea.
Step 2B
The claims do not include additional elements that are sufficient to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception. As discussed above with respect to integration of the abstract idea into a practical application, the additional elements of using the data transform accelerator, data transform engines, processing device, and pipelines to perform the steps or the additional elements from the dependent claims amounts to no more than part of the abstract idea, mere extra-solution activity, and mere instructions to apply the exception using a generic computer component. The claims are not patent eligible.
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) 1-8 and 15-18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Richardson et al. (US10412002), hereinafter Richardson, in view of Kakaiya et al. (US2023/0100586), hereinafter Kakaiya.
Regarding Claim 1:
Richardson teaches:
A method, comprising: obtaining, by a data transform accelerator, first metadata (Richardson, figures 1-2, column 5 line 64 - column 6 line 29, note transformation information for the transforming operations);
obtaining input data to be transformed by the data transform accelerator (Richardson, figures 1-2, column 5 line 64 - column 6 line 29, note performing transformations on input);
generating, using the first pipeline, encoded data and second metadata using the input data and the first metadata (Richardson, figures 1-2, column 5 line 64 - column 6 line 29, note performing transformations on input to generate compressed, e.g., encoded data, and additional associated data, e.g., second metadata, using the input data and the first metadata); and
While Richardson teaches obtaining metadata for data transformation commands, Richardson does not specifically teach configuring a first pipeline in the data transform accelerator using the first metadata; configuring a second pipeline in the data transform accelerator using the second metadata. However, Kakaiya is in the same field of endeavor, data management, and Kakaiya teaches:
A method, comprising: obtaining, by a data transform accelerator, first metadata (Kakaiya, figures 1 and 11, [0072, 0078, 0094-0095], note obtaining descriptor);
configuring a first pipeline in the data transform accelerator using the first metadata (Kakaiya, figures 1 and 11, [0054, 0078, 0094-0095], note obtaining descriptor and sending/configuring pipelines for the jobs based on the descriptor, e.g., compress/encode or decompress/decode);
obtaining input data to be transformed by the data transform accelerator (Kakaiya, figures 1 and 11, [0053-0054, 0077-0078], note obtaining input to be transformed, e.g., compressed/encoded or decompressed/decoded);
generating, using the first pipeline, encoded data and second metadata using the input data and the first metadata (Kakaiya, figures 1, 11, and 16-17, [0053-0054, 0059, 0077-0078, 0111], note obtaining input to be transformed, e.g., compressed/encoded or decompressed/decoded with metadata; note outputting compressed/encoded data with metadata); and
configuring a second pipeline in the data transform accelerator using the second metadata (Kakaiya, figures 1, 9A, and 16-17, [0053-0054, 0077-0078, 0090, 0093], note a single descriptor may communicate information to an accelerator about multiple jobs, for example for live-migration of data where software would like to decompress a page and populate memory as soon as a network packet (e.g., chunk of data) is received, which would mean a second decompression pipeline would be configurated using the second metadata).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective date of filing to modify the cited references to incorporate the teachings of Kakaiya because all references are directed towards data management and information retrieval and because Kakaiya would expand upon the teachings of the previously cited references in data transformations which would improve the efficiency and performance of the system using accelerators and pipelines to process and transmit data (Kakaiya, [0061, 0070]).
Regarding Claim 2:
Richardson as modified shows the method as disclosed above;
Richardson as modified further teaches:
generating, by the second pipeline, decoded data using the encoded data (Kakaiya, figures 1, 9A, and 16-17, [0053-0054, 0077-0078, 0090, 0093], note a single descriptor may communicate information to an accelerator about multiple jobs, for example for live-migration of data where software would like to decompress a page and populate memory as soon as a network packet (e.g., chunk of data) is received, which would mean a second decompression pipeline would be configurated using the second metadata to decode the encoded data).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective date of filing to modify the cited references to incorporate the teachings of Kakaiya because all references are directed towards data management and information retrieval and because Kakaiya would expand upon the teachings of the previously cited references in data transformations which would improve the efficiency and performance of the system using accelerators and pipelines to process and transmit data (Kakaiya, [0061, 0070]).
Regarding Claim 3:
Richardson as modified shows the method as disclosed above;
Richardson as modified further teaches:
wherein the first metadata is obtained by accessing, by the data transform accelerator, a data transform command, the data transform command including at least the first metadata (Richardson, figures 1-2, column 5 line 64 - column 6 line 29, note transformation information for the transforming operations) (Kakaiya, figures 1 and 11, [0072, 0078, 0094-0095], note obtaining descriptor).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective date of filing to modify the cited references to incorporate the teachings of Kakaiya because all references are directed towards data management and information retrieval and because Kakaiya would expand upon the teachings of the previously cited references in data transformations which would improve the efficiency and performance of the system using accelerators and pipelines to process and transmit data (Kakaiya, [0061, 0070]).
Regarding Claim 4:
Richardson as modified shows the method as disclosed above;
Richardson as modified further teaches:
wherein the first metadata is obtained from a control device and is operable to: direct the configuration of the first pipeline in the data transform accelerator (Kakaiya, figures 1 and 11, [0054, 0078, 0094-0095], note obtaining descriptor and sending/configuring pipelines for the jobs based on the descriptor, e.g., compress/encode or decompress/decode); and
direct the configuration of the second metadata to be generated by the first pipeline (Kakaiya, figures 1, 9A, and 16-17, [0053-0054, 0077-0078, 0090, 0093], note obtaining input to be transformed, e.g., compressed/encoded or decompressed/decoded with metadata; note outputting compressed/encoded data with metadata; note a single descriptor may communicate information to an accelerator about multiple jobs, for example for live-migration of data where software would like to decompress a page and populate memory as soon as a network packet (e.g., chunk of data) is received).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective date of filing to modify the cited references to incorporate the teachings of Kakaiya because all references are directed towards data management and information retrieval and because Kakaiya would expand upon the teachings of the previously cited references in data transformations which would improve the efficiency and performance of the system using accelerators and pipelines to process and transmit data (Kakaiya, [0061, 0070]).
Regarding Claim 5:
Richardson as modified shows the method as disclosed above;
Richardson as modified further teaches:
a first portion of the second metadata comprises information associated with a delineation of one or more command structure elements included in a second portion of the second metadata (Richardson, figures 1-2, column 5 line 64 - column 6 line 29, note transformation information for the transforming operations) (Kakaiya, figures 1, 11, and 16-17, [0053-0054, 0077-0078, 0090, 0093-0094], note obtaining input to be transformed, e.g., compressed/encoded or decompressed/decoded with metadata; note outputting compressed/encoded data with metadata; note a single descriptor may communicate information to an accelerator about multiple jobs, for example for live-migration of data where software would like to decompress a page and populate memory as soon as a network packet (e.g., chunk of data) is received, which would mean a second decompression pipeline would be configurated using the second metadata; note flags; note descriptor contains portions of metadata associated command structure elements of other portions of the metadata, e.g., multiple jobs); and
the second portion of the second metadata comprises at least one of a session control word, a source token, an action token, and additional metadata (Kakaiya, figures 1, 11, and 16-17, [0053-0054, 0077-0078, 0093-0094, 0111], note a single descriptor may communicate information to an accelerator about multiple jobs, for example for live-migration of data where software would like to decompress a page and populate memory as soon as a network packet (e.g., chunk of data) is received, which would mean a second decompression pipeline would be configurated using the second metadata; note flags; note descriptor contains portions of metadata associated command structure elements of other portions of the metadata, e.g., multiple jobs; note other portions of metadata within the second metadata).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective date of filing to modify the cited references to incorporate the teachings of Kakaiya because all references are directed towards data management and information retrieval and because Kakaiya would expand upon the teachings of the previously cited references in data transformations which would improve the efficiency and performance of the system using accelerators and pipelines to process and transmit data (Kakaiya, [0061, 0070]).
Regarding Claim 6:
Richardson as modified shows the method as disclosed above;
Richardson as modified further teaches:
wherein a data transform engine included in the second pipeline consumes the second portion of the second metadata and does not consume the first portion of the second metadata to generate decoded data (Kakaiya, figures 1, 11, and 16-17, [0053-0054, 0077-0078, 0093-0094, 0111], note a single descriptor may communicate information to an accelerator about multiple jobs, for example for live-migration of data where software would like to decompress a page and populate memory as soon as a network packet (e.g., chunk of data) is received, which would mean a second decompression pipeline would be configurated using the second metadata; note descriptor contains portions of metadata associated command structure elements of other portions of the metadata, e.g., multiple jobs; note flags may indicate functionality to be used for the operations and output, which means the flags are consumed by the data transform engine to process the decompression operation).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective date of filing to modify the cited references to incorporate the teachings of Kakaiya because all references are directed towards data management and information retrieval and because Kakaiya would expand upon the teachings of the previously cited references in data transformations which would improve the efficiency and performance of the system using accelerators and pipelines to process and transmit data (Kakaiya, [0061, 0070]).
Regarding Claim 7:
Richardson as modified shows the method as disclosed above;
Richardson as modified further teaches:
configuring, by a post-processing device, a layout of a second data transform command for the second pipeline using the first portion of the second metadata (Kakaiya, figures 1, 11, and 16-17, [0053-0054, 0077-0078, 0093-0094, 0111], note outputting compressed/encoded data with metadata; note a single descriptor may communicate information to an accelerator about multiple jobs, for example for live-migration of data where software would like to decompress a page and populate memory as soon as a network packet (e.g., chunk of data) is received, which is interpreted to mean a layout of a second data transform command, e.g., decompression, using a first portion of the metadata); and
populating, by the post-processing device, the layout using the second portion of the second metadata (Kakaiya, figures 1, 11, and 16-17, [0053-0054, 0077-0078, 0093-0094, 0111], note outputting compressed/encoded data with metadata; note a single descriptor may communicate information to an accelerator about multiple jobs, for example for live-migration of data where software would like to decompress a page and populate memory as soon as a network packet (e.g., chunk of data) is received, which is interpreted to mean a layout of a second data transform command, e.g., decompression, using a first portion of the metadata; note flags may indicate functionality to be used for the operations, which means the flags are consumed by the data transform engine to process the decompression operation, e.g., used to populate the layout).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective date of filing to modify the cited references to incorporate the teachings of Kakaiya because all references are directed towards data management and information retrieval and because Kakaiya would expand upon the teachings of the previously cited references in data transformations which would improve the efficiency and performance of the system using accelerators and pipelines to process and transmit data (Kakaiya, [0061, 0070]).
Regarding Claim 8:
Richardson as modified shows the method as disclosed above;
Richardson as modified further teaches:
wherein the post-processing device is a host computing device (Richardson, figures 1-2, note the server computer may be a host device) (Kakaiya, figure 1, note the computer system may be a host device).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective date of filing to modify the cited references to incorporate the teachings of Kakaiya because all references are directed towards data management and information retrieval and because Kakaiya would expand upon the teachings of the previously cited references in data transformations which would improve the efficiency and performance of the system using accelerators and pipelines to process and transmit data (Kakaiya, [0061, 0070]).
Regarding Claim 15:
Richardson as modified shows the method as disclosed above;
Richardson as modified further teaches:
wherein the first pipeline comprises one or more data transform engines arranged to perform one or more data transform operations to the input data (Kakaiya, figures 1 and 11, [0054, 0078, 0094-0095], note obtaining descriptor and sending/configuring pipelines for the jobs based on the descriptor, e.g., compress/encode or decompress/decode).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective date of filing to modify the cited references to incorporate the teachings of Kakaiya because all references are directed towards data management and information retrieval and because Kakaiya would expand upon the teachings of the previously cited references in data transformations which would improve the efficiency and performance of the system using accelerators and pipelines to process and transmit data (Kakaiya, [0061, 0070]).
Claim 16 discloses substantially the same limitations as claim 1 respectively, except claim 16 is directed to a system comprising one or more data transform engines and a processing device (Kakaiya, figures 1-4, note work execution circuits; note processor) while claim 1 is directed to a method. Therefore claim 16 is rejected under the same rationale set forth for claim 1.
Claim 17 discloses substantially the same limitations as claim 2 respectively, except claim 17 is directed to a system comprising one or more data transform engines and a processing device (Kakaiya, figures 1-4, note work execution circuits; note processor) while claim 2 is directed to a method. Therefore claim 17 is rejected under the same rationale set forth for claim 2.
Claim 18 discloses substantially the same limitations as claim 5 respectively, except claim 18 is directed to a system comprising one or more data transform engines and a processing device (Kakaiya, figures 1-4, note work execution circuits; note processor) while claim 5 is directed to a method. Therefore claim 18 is rejected under the same rationale set forth for claim 5.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
Claim(s) 9-11 and 19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Richardson in view of Kakaiya and Naveen Imagoudanavar et al. (“Data Protection”, 2019), hereinafter Naveen.
Regarding Claim 9:
Richardson as modified shows the method as disclosed above;
Richardson as modified further teaches:
non-volatile memory express (NVMe) protection information (PI) (Richardson, claims 10 and 15, note using NVMe and protection information is a part of NVMe) associated with the encoded data and with the second metadata (Kakaiya, figures 1, 11, and 16-17, [0053-0054, 0059, 0077-0078, 0093, 0111], note obtaining input to be transformed, e.g., compressed/encoded or decompressed/decoded with metadata; note outputting compressed/encoded data with metadata; note a single descriptor may communicate information to an accelerator about multiple jobs, for example for live-migration of data where software would like to decompress a page and populate memory as soon as a network packet (e.g., chunk of data) is received, which would mean a second decompression pipeline would be configurated using the second metadata).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective date of filing to modify the cited references to incorporate the teachings of Kakaiya because all references are directed towards data management and information retrieval and because Kakaiya would expand upon the teachings of the previously cited references in data transformations which would improve the efficiency and performance of the system using accelerators and pipelines to process and transmit data (Kakaiya, [0061, 0070]).
While Richardson as modified teaches data transformation, Richardson as modified does not specifically teach generating non-volatile memory express (NVMe) protection information (PI) associated with the encoded data and with the second metadata. However, Naveen is in the same field of endeavor, data management, and Naveen teaches:
generating non-volatile memory express (NVMe) protection information (PI) associated with the encoded data and with the second metadata (Naveen, section 1, note generating NVMe PI for each data block while data transferring. When combined with the previously cited references this would be for the encoded data and second metadata as taught by Richardson and Kakaiya).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective date of filing to modify the cited references to incorporate the teachings of Naveen because all references are directed towards data management and information retrieval and because Naveen would expand upon the teachings of the previously cited references in data transformations which would improve the security of the data by utilizing the security features of NVMe (Naveen, abstract and section 1).
Regarding Claim 10:
Richardson as modified shows the method as disclosed above;
Richardson as modified further teaches:
wherein a portion of the encoded data and the second metadata is combined into one or more sectors associated with the NVMe PI (Richardson, claims 10 and 15, note using NVMe and protection information is a part of NVMe) associated with the encoded data and with the second metadata (Kakaiya, figures 1, 11, and 16-17, [0053-0054, 0059, 0077-0078, 0093, 0111], note obtaining input to be transformed, e.g., compressed/encoded or decompressed/decoded with metadata; note outputting compressed/encoded data with metadata; note a single descriptor may communicate information to an accelerator about multiple jobs, for example for live-migration of data where software would like to decompress a page and populate memory as soon as a network packet (e.g., chunk of data) is received, which would mean a second decompression pipeline would be configurated using the second metadata) (Naveen, section 1, note generating NVMe PI for each data block while data transferring; note the NVMe PI is combined with the data block. When combined with the previously cited references this would be for the encoded data and second metadata as taught by Richardson and Kakaiya).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective date of filing to modify the cited references to incorporate the teachings of Kakaiya because all references are directed towards data management and information retrieval and because Kakaiya would expand upon the teachings of the previously cited references in data transformations which would improve the efficiency and performance of the system using accelerators and pipelines to process and transmit data (Kakaiya, [0061, 0070]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective date of filing to modify the cited references to incorporate the teachings of Naveen because all references are directed towards data management and information retrieval and because Naveen would expand upon the teachings of the previously cited references in data transformations which would improve the security of the data by utilizing the security features of NVMe (Naveen, abstract and section 1).
Regarding Claim 11:
Richardson as modified shows the method as disclosed above;
Richardson as modified further teaches:
wherein the NVMe PI is included in the one or more sectors (Richardson, claims 10 and 15, note using NVMe and protection information is a part of NVMe) associated with the encoded data and with the second metadata (Kakaiya, figures 1, 11, and 16-17, [0053-0054, 0059, 0077-0078, 0093, 0111], note obtaining input to be transformed, e.g., compressed/encoded or decompressed/decoded with metadata; note outputting compressed/encoded data with metadata; note a single descriptor may communicate information to an accelerator about multiple jobs, for example for live-migration of data where software would like to decompress a page and populate memory as soon as a network packet (e.g., chunk of data) is received, which would mean a second decompression pipeline would be configurated using the second metadata) (Naveen, section 1, note generating NVMe PI for each data block while data transferring; note the NVMe PI is combined with the data block. When combined with the previously cited references this would be for the encoded data and second metadata as taught by Richardson and Kakaiya).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective date of filing to modify the cited references to incorporate the teachings of Kakaiya because all references are directed towards data management and information retrieval and because Kakaiya would expand upon the teachings of the previously cited references in data transformations which would improve the efficiency and performance of the system using accelerators and pipelines to process and transmit data (Kakaiya, [0061, 0070]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective date of filing to modify the cited references to incorporate the teachings of Naveen because all references are directed towards data management and information retrieval and because Naveen would expand upon the teachings of the previously cited references in data transformations which would improve the security of the data by utilizing the security features of NVMe (Naveen, abstract and section 1).
Claim 19 discloses substantially the same limitations as claim 9 respectively, except claim 19 is directed to a system comprising one or more data transform engines and a processing device (Kakaiya, figures 1-4, note work execution circuits; note processor) while claim 9 is directed to a method. Therefore claim 19 is rejected under the same rationale set forth for claim 9.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
Claim(s) 12-13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Richardson in view of Kakaiya and Niell et al. (US2021/0150074), hereinafter Niell.
Regarding Claim 12:
Richardson as modified shows the method as disclosed above;
Richardson as modified further teaches:
encrypting, by an encryption data transform engine in the first pipeline, the encoded data using a first key (Richardson, column 1 line 60 – column 2 line 29, note each segment may be encrypted) (Kakaiya, figure 4, [0077-0078], note encrypting the data in the first pipeline); and
encrypting, by the encryption data transform engine in the first pipeline, the second metadata using a second key (Richardson, column 1 line 60 – column 2 line 29, note each segment may be encrypted) (Kakaiya, figure 4, [0077-0078], note encrypting the data in the first pipeline).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective date of filing to modify the cited references to incorporate the teachings of Kakaiya because all references are directed towards data management and information retrieval and because Kakaiya would expand upon the teachings of the previously cited references in data transformations which would improve the efficiency and performance of the system using accelerators and pipelines to process and transmit data (Kakaiya, [0061, 0070]).
While Richardson as modified teaches data transformation and encryption, Richardson as modified does not specifically state using encryption keys. However, Niell is in the same field of endeavor, data management, and Niell teaches:
encrypting, by an encryption data transform engine in the first pipeline, the encoded data using a first key (Niell, figures 4A-4E, claims 16-17, [0043, 0081], note encrypting the encoded data using a key. When combined with the previously cited references this would be for the encoded data, metadata, and pipelines as taught by Richardson and Kakaiya); and
encrypting, by the encryption data transform engine in the first pipeline, the second metadata using a second key (Niell, figures 4A-4E, claims 16-17, [0043, 0081], note encrypting the data/metadata using a key. When combined with the previously cited references this would be for the encoded data, metadata, and pipelines as taught by Richardson and Kakaiya).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective date of filing to modify the cited references to incorporate the teachings of Niell because all references are directed towards data management and information retrieval and because Niell would expand upon the teachings of the previously cited references in data transformations which would improve the security of the data by utilizing the encryption/decryption (Niell, [0003]).
Regarding Claim 13:
Richardson as modified shows the method as disclosed above;
Richardson as modified further teaches:
wherein the first key is the same as the second key (Richardson, column 1 line 60 – column 2 line 29, note each segment may be encrypted) (Kakaiya, figure 4, [0077-0078], note encrypting the data in the first pipeline) (Niell, figures 4A-4E, claims 16-18, [0043, 0081, 0083], note encrypting the data/metadata using a key, which may be the same. When combined with the previously cited references this would be for the encoded data, metadata, and pipelines as taught by Richardson and Kakaiya).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective date of filing to modify the cited references to incorporate the teachings of Kakaiya because all references are directed towards data management and information retrieval and because Kakaiya would expand upon the teachings of the previously cited references in data transformations which would improve the efficiency and performance of the system using accelerators and pipelines to process and transmit data (Kakaiya, [0061, 0070]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective date of filing to modify the cited references to incorporate the teachings of Niell because all references are directed towards data management and information retrieval and because Niell would expand upon the teachings of the previously cited references in data transformations which would improve the security of the data by utilizing the encryption/decryption (Niell, [0003]).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
Claim(s) 14 and 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Richardson in view of Kakaiya, Niell, and Sovio et al. (US2023/0058046), hereinafter Sovio.
Regarding Claim 14:
Richardson as modified shows the method as disclosed above;
Richardson as modified further teaches:
decrypting, by a decryption data transform engine in the second pipeline, the second metadata using the second key (Richardson, column 3 line 34 – column 4 line 4, note each segment may be encrypted/decrypted) (Kakaiya, figure 3, [0053-0054, 0076-0078, 0090, 0093], note decrypting the data in the second pipeline) (Niell, figures 4A-4E, claims 16-18, [0043, 0081, 0083], note decrypting the data/metadata using a key. When combined with the previously cited references this would be for the encoded data and pipelines as taught by Richardson and Kakaiya);
decrypting, by the decryption data transform engine in the second pipeline, the encoded data using the first key (Richardson, column 3 line 34 – column 4 line 4, note each segment may be encrypted/decrypted) (Kakaiya, figure 3, [0053-0054, 0076-0078, 0090, 0093], note decrypting the data in the second pipeline) (Niell, figures 4A-4E, claims 16-18, [0043, 0081, 0083], note decrypting the data/metadata using a key. When combined with the previously cited references this would be for the encoded data and pipelines as taught by Richardson and Kakaiya).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective date of filing to modify the cited references to incorporate the teachings of Kakaiya because all references are directed towards data management and information retrieval and because Kakaiya would expand upon the teachings of the previously cited references in data transformations which would improve the efficiency and performance of the system using accelerators and pipelines to process and transmit data (Kakaiya, [0061, 0070]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective date of filing to modify the cited references to incorporate the teachings of Niell because all references are directed towards data management and information retrieval and because Niell would expand upon the teachings of the previously cited references in data transformations which would improve the security of the data by utilizing the encryption/decryption (Niell, [0003]).
While Richardson as modified teaches data transformation and encryption, Richardson as modified does not specifically teach obtaining the first key from the decryption of the second metadata. However, Sovio is in the same field of endeavor, data management, and Sovio teaches:
obtaining the first key from the decryption of the second metadata (Sovio, [0042], note obtaining a decryption key from the decryption of metadata. When combined with the previously cited references this would be for the metadata and keys as taught by Richardson, Kakaiya, and Niell).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective date of filing to modify the cited references to incorporate the teachings of Sovio because all references are directed towards data management and information retrieval and because Sovio would expand upon the teachings of the previously cited references in data protections which would improve the security of the data by utilizing the encryption/decryption keys (Sovio, [0004]).
Claim 20 discloses substantially the same limitations as claim 12 and 14 respectively, except claim 20 is directed to a system comprising one or more data transform engines and a processing device (Kakaiya, figures 1-4, note work execution circuits; note processor) while claim 12 and 14 is directed to a method. Therefore claim 20 is rejected under the same rationale set forth for claim 12 and 14.
Conclusion
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/JOHN J MORRIS/Examiner, Art Unit 2152 3/19/2026
/NEVEEN ABEL JALIL/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2152