DETAILED ACTION
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
This non-final office action is responsive to the RCE filed on 02/23/2026.
Claims 1-24 are pending.
Response to Amendment
Applicant has amended independent claims 1, 6, 11, 16, 21 to include new/old limitations in a form not previously presented necessitating new search and considerations.
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.
Claims 1-24 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112 (b) as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following claim language is not clearly understood:
Claim 1 recites “application-specific connections”. It is unclear if the application specific connections is referring to each application having one independent connection to the storage or one connection can be used by more than one application i.e. one connection could be specific to more than one application.
Claim 1 recites “application-specific connections” and further recites “connections configured based up on traffic-class based priority data of the applications”. It is unclear if the connection is based on the application or based on the traffic-class based priority” or both. e.g. if connections are application based, then what would it mean to have traffic-class based priority data i.e. if data of specific application would be forwarded to corresponding connection, what would the traffic-class dictate about the data /connections based on the priority of data.
Claims 6, 11, 16 and 21 recite elements of claim 1 and have similar deficiency as claim 1. Therefore, they are rejected for the same rational. Remaining dependent claims are also rejected due to their dependency on the rejected independent claims.
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 1-24 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Van der Linden et al. (US 2011/0022812 A1, hereafter Van der Linden in view of Yu et al. (US 2018/0139645 A1, hereafter Yu), and further in view of Kassimis et al. (US 2018/0212999 A1, hereafter Kassimis), and further in view of Sun et al. (US 2009/0083455 A1, hereafter Sun).
Van der Linden and Yu were cited in the last office action.
As per claim 1, Van der Linden teaches the invention substantially as claimed including cloud computing system for use in association with at least one network and virtualized storage (fig. 4B cloud service and hosting infrastructure 406, cloud bridge 402 [0297] cloud bridge, storage manager, high speed virtual storage, network attached storage, storage area network), the cloud computing system comprising ( fig. 4B cloud service 406 cloud bridge 402):
one or more server processing circuits, each server processing circuit of the one or more server processing circuits configured to (fig. 4B server 106 fig. 1F 106 ):
execute applications (fig. 4B server 106b cloud bridge 402 server 106d Application server, web service server, desktop server, virtualization server, voice server, print server, web server i.e. different applications fig. 6A host computing device 106e [0050] processor, execute application), the applications to be associated with one or more virtual environments (fig. 2A server 106 Application; fig. 4B server 106d virtual machine 166 Application server, web service server, desktop server, virtualization server, voice server, print server, web server i.e. different applications [0050] virtual machine, execute, application), the one or more virtual environments to be associated with the virtualized storage that is configured for data communication (fig. 6A host computing device 106e virtual machines 166 virtual disk 142B virtual storage resource 640 switch fabric 620 network 104 [0331] host computer 106, storage network 630 communicate switch fabric 620), via Non-Volatile Memory Express (NVMe) compatible-protocol ([0064] communicates, connect, PCI-express bus, INFINIBAND i.e. compatible with NVMe [0070] connection, communication protocols, TCP/IP [0344] switch fabric, fibre channel switches), with the one or more virtual environments (fig. 6A host computing devices 106 100 virtual machine 166 virtual storage resource 640 switch fabric 620);
establish, for user in the data communication connections with the virtualized storage (fig. 6A host computing device 106 virtual machine 166 virtual disk 142b virtual storage resource 640; fig. 2C server application), the traffic class-based priority data to be used in implementing respective qualities of service to be provided in associated with the applications ([0212] QoS engine 236, performing quality of service, network traffic control and management mechanism, different priorities to different applications [0213] QoS engine, transmit packets, according to one or more class/levels of services, class of service - best effort, controlled load, guaranteed or qualitative);
poll to identify storage transactions received ([0423] data collection component 1012 periodically polls virtual machine 166, fig. 10 computing device 106 g 1012 166 [0424] queue, data [0335] storage area network 630 storage system 632 storage pool fig. 6A storage system 632 virtual storage resource 640 [0233] performs monitoring and performance measurement of one or more transactions, requests or response); and
perform the storage transactions ([0233] performance measurement of one or more transaction related to application, SQL transactions [0056] reads and write data from the storage element); and
queue memory to store the one or more queues ([0424] data collection component 1012, queue management, managing a queue of data, added, database 1016)
wherein:
the respective qualities of service are to prioritize, based upon the traffic class-based priority data, network bandwidth among the applications ([0212] QoS engine, network traffic control and management mechanism, different priorities, different applications, dataflow/connections, controls, maintains, portion of bandwidth or network capacity for applications, data flow or connections);
the one or more virtual environments are configured to be associated with the polling for use in the data communication (fig. 6A host computing device 106e virtual machines 166 virtual storage resource 640 switch fabric 620 network 104 [0331] host computer 106, storage network 630 communicate switch fabric 620 [0414] providing API, to poll [0423] data collection component, polls, hypervisor), via the Non-Volatile Memory Express (NVMe) compatible-protocol, ([0064] communicates, connect, PCI-express bus i.e. compatible with NVMe [0070] connection, communication protocols, TCP/IP [0344] switch fabric, fibre channel switches), with the virtualized storage (6A host computing devices 106 100 virtual machine 166 virtual storage resource 640 switch fabric 620); and
execution of a plurality of the applications that are associated with the polling is configured to be on selected central processing unit core resources ( fig. 6A host computing device 106e virtual machines 166 virtual storage resource 640 switch fabric 620 network 104 [0414] providing API, to poll [0423] data collection component, polls, hypervisor [0436] metric, utilization of CPU by the virtual machine 166 fig. 4B server 106b 106d virtual machine Application server, web service server, desktop server, virtualization server, voice server, print server, web server i.e. different applications ), the selected central processing unit core resources to be selected based upon policy data ([0129] policy engine, determines, one or more applications, selection of method of execution [0149] policy applied based on payload of network packet [0303] policy based control of a virtualization center data infrastructure [0540] service based control automation, dynamically allocates / reallocates resources from servers 106 to provide user sessions based on service level policies); and
the virtualized storage is configured to comprise a storage pool ([0335] storage area network 630 storage system 632 storage pool fig. 6A storage system 632 virtual storage resource 640 ).
Van der Linden doesn’t specifically teach establish, by each respective executed application, one or more application-specific connections, the application-specific connections configured based upon traffic class-based priority data of the applications, bind to each application-specific connection one or more queues configured to receive storage transactions; poll the application specific connections to identify storage transactions received in one or more queues.
Yu, however, teaches establish, for user in the data communication by each respective executed application, one or more application-specific connections ([0060] unique information #1 to #5, executing application, applications #1t to #5; applications, generate network traffic application; [0061] priority controller, select, rules, application, rule chain based on app information, arrange unique information of the application based on selected rules; fig. 3 application i.e. VT, FTP, Email, priority controller 1517 [0062] fig. 4 step 440, assign each network traffic to any of the first to third queues, priority controller 1517, assign network traffic of application #1 to the first queue 1521 i.e. application specific queue), the application-specific connections configured based upon traffic class-based priority data of the applications ([0050] priority controller, rule, app information, application, select a rule for assigning network traffic of the application having real time to the first queue 1521 [0054] traffic control command, queue, network traffic assigned, managing bandwidth, first queue, application, highest priority, application, second /third processed, middle priority, application, assign third queue, lowest priority [0055] network traffic input in response to the control command [0079]);
bind to each application-specific connection one or more queues configured to receive storage transactions (fig. 4 network packet#1-first queue 1521 network packet #5#2#3#4-secodn queue 1523 [0054] traffic control command, queue, network traffic assigned, managing bandwidth, first queue, application, highest priority, application, second /third processed, middle priority, application, assign third queue, lowest priority [0055] network traffic input in response to the control command [0058] distribute traffic of each transceiver to the first and third queues [0079]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skills in the art before the effective filing date of the invention was made to combine the teachings of Van der Linden with the teachings of Yu of application traffic assigned to queues based on application priority to improve efficiency and allow queues that are configurable to be bound to application-specific connections; the application-specific connections to be configured based upon traffic class-based priority data of the applications to the method of Van der Linden as in the instant invention. The combination would have been obvious because substituting the queue within the appliance with the queues bound with application based on priority to yield predictable result and improved efficiency.
Van der Linden and Yu, in combination, don’t specifically teach each respective executed application, application-specific connections, poll the application-specific connections to identify storage transactions received in one or more queues.
Kassimis, however, teaches establish, by each respective executed application, one or more application-specific connections ([0004] each connection of the plurality of connections carries a network traffic associated with a respective host application of the plurality of host applications).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skills in the art before the effective filing date of the invention was made to combine the teachings of Van der Linden and Yu with the teachings of Kassimis of each application associated with respective connection to carry network traffic to improve efficiency and security to allow each respective executed application associated with application-specific connections to the method of Van der Linden and Yu as in the instant invention.
The combination would have been obvious because substituting the connections taught by Van der Linden and Yu with the application-specific connections taught by Kassimis to yield expected result with improved security and efficiency.
Van der Linden, Yu and Kassimis, in combination, do not specifically teach poll the application-specific connections to identify storage transactions received in one or more queues.
Sun, however, teaches poll the application-specific connections to identify storage transactions received in one or more queues ([0018] polling task, sockets, application [0019] polling task, poll, sockets, capturing events of interest [0048] polling task, task id, polling sockets, polling results[0058] polling task, periodically performs, select call for read/write data on a group of sockets associated for a particular service ).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skills in the art before the effective filing date of the invention was made to combine the teachings of Van der Linden, Yu and Kassimis with the teachings of Sun of polling sockets of active application to capture event of interest to improve efficiency and allow poll the application-specific connections to identify storage transactions received in one or more queues to the method of Linden, Yu and Kassimis as in the instant invention.
The combination would have been obvious because applying the method of polling sockets of application for events of interest to the teachings of Linden, Yu and Kassimis to yield expected results and improved efficiency.
As per claim 2, Van der Linden teaches wherein:
the cloud computing system is to be used in association with a management interface to be communicatively coupled to the cloud computing system via the at least one network ([0318] fig. 5E cloud service and hosting infrastructure 406 cloud instances 506 cloud system management interface 502);
the management interface is for use in managing and/or configuring, at least in part, the cloud computing system ([0318] cloud system management interface 50, coordination component 504, complex operations, multiple sequenced steps for single/ multiple server, such as instantiating/ executing machine image, provisioning storage resource [0319] management operation); and
the managing and/or configuring, at least in part, of the cloud computing system is to be carried out in association with corresponding configuration parameters and/or corresponding configuration data of the management interface ([0318] cloud system management interface 50, coordination component 504, complex operations, multiple sequenced steps for single/ multiple server, provisioning and associating IP address, associating user profile store with the domain controller server [0319] management operation [0528] control system, parameters).
As per claim 3, Van der Linden teaches wherein: the cloud computing system comprises a distributed computing system ( [0323] cloud services and hosting infrastructure 406, services, distributed as virtual appliance); and
the distributed computing system comprises multiple servers (fig. 4B cloud service and hosting infrastructure 406 [0408] fig. 10 distributed, plurality of physical computing devices, cloud bridge server 402 [0277] fig. 4A).
As per claim 4, Van der Linden teaches the multiple servers comprise the one or more server processing circuits ([0065] fig. 1D computing device 100 multiple processors [0074] computer system 100, server).
As per claim 5, Yu teaches wherein: the queues are configured to be dedicated to the application-specific connections ( fig. 4 network packet#1-first queue 1521 network packet #5#2#3#4-secodn queue 1523 [0054] traffic control command, queue, network traffic assigned, managing bandwidth, first queue, application, highest priority, application, second /third processed, middle priority, application, assign third queue, lowest priority [0055] network traffic input in response to the control command [0058] distribute traffic of each transceiver to the first and third queues [0079]).
Claim 6 recites a method implemented using a cloud computing system for the elements similar to claim 1. Therefore, it is rejected for the same rationale.
Claim 7 recites the method for elements similar to claim 2. Therefore, it is rejected for the same rationale.
Claim 8 recites the method for elements similar to claim 3. Therefore, it is rejected for the same rationale.
Claim 9 recites the method for elements similar to claim 4. Therefore, it is rejected for the same rationale.
Claim 10 recites the method for elements similar to claim 5. Therefore, it is rejected for the same rationale.
Claim 11 recites at least one non-transitory machine-readable storage medium storing instructions to be executed by at least one machine, the at least one machine to be associated with a cloud computing system for limitation similar to claim 1. Therefore, it is rejected for the same rationale.
Claim 12 recites the at least one non-transitory machine-readable storage medium for elements similar to claim 2. Therefore, it is rejected for the same rationale.
Claim 13 recites the at least one non-transitory machine-readable storage medium for elements similar to claim 3. Therefore, it is rejected for the same rationale.
Claim 14 recites the at least one non-transitory machine-readable storage medium for elements similar to claim 4. Therefore, it is rejected for the same rationale.
Claim 15 recites the at least one non-transitory machine-readable storage medium for elements similar to claim 5. Therefore, it is rejected for the same rationale.
Claim 16 recites limitations similar to claim 1. Therefore, it is rejected for the same rationale.
Claim 17 recites limitations similar to claim 2. Therefore, it is rejected for the same rationale.
Claim 18 recites limitations similar to claim 3. Therefore, it is rejected for the same rationale.
Claim 19 recites limitations similar to claim 4. Therefore, it is rejected for the same rationale.
Claim 20 recites limitations similar to claim 5. Therefore, it is rejected for the same rationale.
Claim 21 recites at least one data center for use in association with a cloud computing system, the at least one data center comprising elements similar to combinations of claims 1, 3 and 4. Therefore, it is rejected for the same rationale.
Claim 22 recites the at least one data center for limitations similar to claim 2. Therefore, it is rejected for the same rationale.
Claim 23 recites the at least one data center for limitations similar to claim 5. Therefore, it is rejected for the same rationale.
As per claim 24, Van der Linden teaches wherein: the at least one data center comprises multiple data centers comprised in the cloud computing system ([0096] server 106, server farm 38, high density rack system, enterprise data center, enterprise data center [0092] corporate data center [0277] data center, cloud service, reside on first network [0531] primary data center, data recovery site).
Examiners Note
Applicant is further reminded of that the cited paragraphs and in the references as applied to the claims above for the convenience of the applicant(s) and although the specified citations are representative of the teachings of 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 from the applicant in preparing responses, to fully consider all of 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.
Response to Arguments
The previous objections to the specification have been withdrawn.
The previous 112(b) rejections have been withdrawn. However, some new rejections have been made.
The previous 35 USC 101 rejections have been withdrawn.
Applicant's arguments filed on 02/23/2026 have been fully considered but they are moot in view new grounds of rejections.
Conclusion
Authorization for Internet Communication
Applicant is encouraged to submit an authorization to communicate with the Examiner via the internet by making the following statement (MPEP 502.03)
“Recognizing that internet communications are not secure, I hereby authorize the USPTO to communicate with the undersigned and practitioners in accordance with 37 CFR 1.33 and 37 CFR 1.34 concerning any subject matter of this application by video conferencing, instant messaging, or electronic mail. I understand that a copy of these communications will be made of record in the application file.”
Please note that the above statement can only by submitted via Central Fax (not Examiner’s Fax), Regular postal mail, or EFS Web using PTO/SB/439.
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Cioffi et al. (US 2021/0314238 A1) teaches application specific connectivity (ASC) is a defined metric that measures a connection's specific influence on productivity level of a specific application.
Haugh et al. (US 2005/0044227 A1) teaches enhancing port allocation procedures in a computer network by reserving ports to particular users and processes.
Tiesberg et al (US 2006/0126619 A1) teaches aggregation over multiple processing nodes of network resources each providing offloaded connections between applications over a network.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ABU ZAR GHAFFARI whose telephone number is (571)270-3799. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Thursday 9:00 - 17:00.
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ABU ZAR GHAFFARI
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2195
/ABU ZAR GHAFFARI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2195
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