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 .
Note: Multiple 103 rejections.
Other References: Patwardhan (US 10409691);
Larsen, Gregory, Feb, 2016 - Exploring SQL Server 2016 Dynamic Data Masking – Part One - Creating a Table that uses Dynamic Data Masking |
Database Journal (available at https:// answers.microsoft.com/en-us/msoffice/forum/all/copy-pasting-urls-from-internet-in-microsoft-word/102d03f3-d01d-4d34-8f1e-dbc011420931)
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, 2, 4-12, 15-21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Mutha (US 20160162364 A1) and in view of Ahrens (US 20160224259 A1) and further in view of Yueh (US 20070294320)
Claim 1. Mutha discloses A method for database backup (eg., 0098 Fig. 1A - information management system 100), comprising:
storing in a backup storage system a backup copy of a database comprising primary data records that are stored and accessed by clients in a primary storage system (eg., 0099 Fig. 1A - store one or more secondary copies 116 of the primary data 112 );
a first request made by a client to modify a specified record in the primary storage system, creating a modification rule with respect to the specified record for application to the backup copy (eg., 0044 - the user may be able to perform operations like renaming, deleting, modifying flags, and modifying retention policies, on the backed up items. Although the underlying data in the backup may not change, with the metadata changed, the view of the backup data when the user browses the backup data can appear to include the user's changes. a restore of the data can cause those changes to be performed on the underlying backup data itself.; 0179 - a full backup copy as a baseline and only store changes relative to the full backup copy for subsequent backup copies.; 0253, 0258 - rules to apply to a particular data object,… computing devices that created, accessed, modified, or otherwise utilized primary data 112 or secondary copies 116;);
after storing the backup, receiving (eg., 0044 0297 - the user may be able to perform operations like renaming, deleting, modifying flags, and modifying retention policies, on the backed up items. Although the underlying data in the backup may not change, with the metadata changed, the view of the backup data when the user browses the backup data can appear to include the user's changes.).
to comply with a data privacy regulation (eg., 0136 the information management system 100 may utilize information management policies 148 for specifying and executing information management operations (e.g., on an automated basis). Generally, an information management policy 148 can include a data structure or other information source that specifies a set of parameters (e.g., criteria and rules) associated with storage or other information management operations..; [0146] The one or more data agent(s) 142 are therefore advantageously configured in some embodiments to assist in the performance of information management operations based on the type of data that is being protected, at a client-specific and/or application-specific level.; this limitation is interpreted as non-functional descriptive – management policy for data management – the data privacy regulation is use to comply with but the claim limitation does not anything functional to the claim)
delete or rectify (eg., 0156 - modifying and/or deleting data retrieved from the particular secondary storage device 108.);
receiving a second request, subsequent to the first request, to restore to the primary storage system from the backup copy one or more of the data records in the database, including the specified record (eg., 0040 - Once restored, backups can be edited, but while the backups are in the secondary storage devices, they are not able to be edited; 0044 - backups are restored or browsed, the logical edits to the metadata can then be performed physically on the data to create a custom restore or a custom view ); and
in response to the second request, restoring the one or more of the data records from the backup copy in the backup storage system to the database in the primary storage system (eg., 0044 - . a custom restore or a custom view…. Although the underlying data in the backup may not change, with the metadata changed, the view of the backup data when the user browses the backup data can appear to include the user's changes; 0320 - [0320] At block 802, a data agent 142 receives a user request to browse or restore a backup.; 0321 - the data agent 142 can output a custom view for browsing or can restore the backup, as modified, while using the changed metadata and any retained original metadata to provide a custom view of the browse or restore data.; 0159 - restoring the data to a client computing device 102.).
Mutha does not disclose, but Ahrens discloses
while modifying the specified record in the data records restored to the database in the primary storage system in accordance with the modification rule, without modifying the backup copy of the database in the backup storage system (eg., 0039-0040 Fig. 2 - stores an unsecure snapshot 210 storing data identified as sensitive data in unmasked form, i.e., original form without applying any masking function. The source storage system 100a applies a masking function to the unsecure snapshot 210 to obtain the secure snapshot 220a… source storage system 100a replicates 235 the secure snapshot 220a to the target system 100b. The replicated secure snapshot 220a is stored as the snapshot 220b on the target system 100b.).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the filing date of the claimed invention to modify the backup database store system storing primary data and secondary copy as disclosed by Mutha, with Ahrens , providing the benefit of creating copies of the data and masking them before making the copies available to the developer (see Ahrens, 0004); allows the target storage system to reconstruct the snapshot (0005) by masking sensitive data stored in the database blocks of the un-secure virtual databases (0034).
Mutha in view of Ahrens does not disclose, but Yueh discloses
in response to the first request, … to specify a modification to be applied to the specified record in a subsequent restore operation, and storing the modification rule in a modification repository (eg., 0020 - priority restore agent 130 acts (such as periodically when a defined "refresh" period expires) to access or look at the attributes of the data sets 116 (e.g., of a file system) and determine all the data sets that are active 117 based on the window 134 and parameters 136 (e.g., which files have been recently touched within the last month or some other useful time period) and which are key data sets 119, and these data sets are combined to create a priority restore data set 138.; 0021 - A request for restore may be received by the data protection application 120 (or remote data protection system 180), and a restore module 126 (or module 188) may restore one or more of the client nodes 112 using the priority restore data set 138; 0024 - automated restore rules may be default values or may be user tunable and/or selectable; [0029] The method 200 continues with a restore request (or some other initiator for a restore process) for one or more client devices/systems).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the filing date of the claimed invention to modify the backup database store system storing primary data and secondary copy as disclosed by Mutha, with Yueh, providing the benefit of an operator of a data protection or backup application 120, 184 may use its restore module (see Yueh, 0029) for facilitating automated restores of select data or files based on user-selectable criteria (0003).
Claim 2. Mutha does not disclose, but Ahrens discloses
wherein the modification rule causes content to be deleted from the specified record among the data records restored to the database (eg., 0034 - the database blocks of an un-secure virtual database that store sensitive data get modified (i.e., 0034 - for example, as a result of updating data, deleting data, or inserting data). In an embodiment, the masking of the data is performed by executing an update statement on the columns of tables storing the sensitive data. For example, the storage system 100 may execute an SQL (structured query language) update statement that replaces the sensitive data values with masked data values obtained by applying a masking function to the sensitive data values.).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the filing date of the claimed invention to modify the backup database store system storing primary data and secondary copy as disclosed by Mutha, with Ahrens , providing the benefit of creating copies of the data and masking them before making the copies available to the developer (see Ahrens, 0004); allows the target storage system to reconstruct the snapshot (0005) by masking sensitive data stored in the database blocks of the un-secure virtual databases (0034).
Claim 4. Mutha does not disclose, but Ahrens discloses
wherein the modification rule causes data to be replaced in the specified record among the data records restored to the database (eg., 0034 - the storage system 100 may execute an SQL (structured query language) update statement that replaces the sensitive data values with masked data values obtained by applying a masking function to the sensitive data values.).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the filing date of the claimed invention to modify the backup database store system storing primary data and secondary copy as disclosed by Mutha, with Ahrens , providing the benefit of creating copies of the data and masking them before making the copies available to the developer (see Ahrens, 0004); allows the target storage system to reconstruct the snapshot (0005) by masking sensitive data stored in the database blocks of the un-secure virtual databases (0034).
Claim 5. Mutha does not disclose, but Ahrens discloses
wherein the modification rule causes the data in the specified record to be replaced with an obfuscating character string. (eg., 0049 - obfuscating data… he data transformation module 380 performs masking by replacing either a portion of a number (i.e., a string of digits) with one or more characters. For example, if a number represents a social security number or a credit card number, the transformation function may replace a prefix of the number with a character, such as ‘x’. Accordingly, the data transformation module 380 replaces a number “123 456” with “xxx 456.”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the filing date of the claimed invention to modify the backup database store system storing primary data and secondary copy as disclosed by Mutha, with Ahrens , providing the benefit of creating copies of the data and masking them before making the copies available to the developer (see Ahrens, 0004); allows the target storage system to reconstruct the snapshot (0005) by masking sensitive data stored in the database blocks of the un-secure virtual databases (0034).
Claim 6. Mutha does not disclose, but Ahrens discloses
wherein the modification rule causes the data in the specified record to be rectified in the data records restored to the database (eg., 0049 - masking out digits, replacing names from a dictionary, or mathematical transformations).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the filing date of the claimed invention to modify the backup database store system storing primary data and secondary copy as disclosed by Mutha, with Ahrens , providing the benefit of creating copies of the data and masking them before making the copies available to the developer (see Ahrens, 0004); allows the target storage system to reconstruct the snapshot (0005) by masking sensitive data stored in the database blocks of the un-secure virtual databases (0034).
Claim 7. Mutha discloses
wherein the database is stored in the primary storage system in a native application format (eg., 0040 - the secondary, backup data being in a format that may differ significantly from the format of the primary data),
while the backup copy is stored in the backup storage system in a backup format, different from the native application format (eg., 0005, 0117 - performing can include storing backup data in a non-human readable format on a secondary storage device)
and wherein restoring the one or more of the data records comprises converting the one or more of the records from the backup format to the native application format and modifying the specified record in the native application format (eg., [0321] Fig. 8 - At block 806, the media agent 144 may also access the index to identify any retained original index metadata related to the changed metadata. At block 808, the data agent 142 can output a custom view for browsing or can restore the backup, as modified, while using the changed metadata and any retained original metadata to provide a custom view of the browse or restore data. As described above, the original metadata may be useful to obtain the physical location or physical characteristics of the actual data that has been subsequently changed in the metadata. Thus, the metadata that is newer may be linked to metadata that is older by the secondary storage editor 252, including the original metadata, to preserve the ability of the data agent 142 to restore the data and enable a user to browse the data.).
Claim 8, Mutha discloses
wherein the modification rule defines a search criterion, and wherein modifying the specified record comprises applying the search criterion to the one or more of the data records that are to be restored to identify the specified record for modification (eg., 0005 - graphical user interface can include functionality configured to enable the user to specify a user-defined textual pattern and to request that any files containing the user-defined textual pattern in the backup data be deleted. The method can further include searching the index for selected files containing the user-defined textual pattern.).
Claim 9, Mutha discloses
wherein the search criterion is applied to the backup copy as the one or more of the data records are restored or read from the backup copy and before the data records are restored to the database (eg., 0233 - and search capability for data in the system, such as data stored in the secondary storage devices 108 (e.g., backups, archives, or other secondary copies 116).
Claim 10, Mutha discloses wherein the search criterion comprises one or more of a record identifier, an entity name, an entity mailing address, an entity electronic mail address, an entity telephone number, and an entity social security number (eg., 0005 - searching the index for selected files containing the user-defined textual pattern.; 0042 - a user may want to find and delete all files that contain Social Security numbers or other sensitive personal data .; 0093 - a particular search term), user-supplied tags, to/from information for email (e.g., an email sender, recipient, etc.).
Claim 11. Mutha discloses A computer software product, comprising a non-transitory computer-readable medium in which program instructions are stored, which instructions, when read by a computer, cause the computer to (eg., 0098 Fig. 1A - information management system 100), comprising: store in a backup storage system a backup copy of a database comprising primary data records that are stored and accessed by clients in a primary storage system, (eg., 0099 Fig. 1A - store one or more secondary copies 116 of the primary data 112 ); to create, in response to a first request made by a client to modify a specified record in the primary storage system, a modification rule with respect to the specified record for application to the backup copy, (eg., 0044 - the user may be able to perform operations like renaming, deleting, modifying flags, and modifying retention policies, on the backed up items. Although the underlying data in the backup may not change, with the metadata changed, the view of the backup data when the user browses the backup data can appear to include the user's changes. a restore of the data can cause those changes to be performed on the underlying backup data itself.; 0179 - a full backup copy as a baseline and only store changes relative to the full backup copy for subsequent backup copies.; 0253, 0258 - rules to apply to a particular data object,… computing devices that created, accessed, modified, or otherwise utilized primary data 112 or secondary copies 116;); and in response to receiving a second request, subsequent to the first request, to restore to the primary storage system from the backup copy one or more of the data records in the database, including the specified record, to restore the one or more of the data records from the backup copy in the backup storage system to the database in the primary storage system (eg., 0040 - Once restored, backups can be edited, but while the backups are in the secondary storage devices, they are not able to be edited; 0044 - backups are restored or browsed, the logical edits to the metadata can then be performed physically on the data to create a custom restore or a custom view ); (eg., 0044 - . a custom restore or a custom view…. Although the underlying data in the backup may not change, with the metadata changed, the view of the backup data when the user browses the backup data can appear to include the user's changes; 0320 - [0320] At block 802, a data agent 142 receives a user request to browse or restore a backup.; 0321 - the data agent 142 can output a custom view for browsing or can restore the backup, as modified, while using the changed metadata and any retained original metadata to provide a custom view of the browse or restore data.; 0159 - restoring the data to a client computing device 102.).
after storing the backup, receiving (eg., 0044 0297 - the user may be able to perform operations like renaming, deleting, modifying flags, and modifying retention policies, on the backed up items. Although the underlying data in the backup may not change, with the metadata changed, the view of the backup data when the user browses the backup data can appear to include the user's changes.).
to comply with a data privacy regulation (eg., 0136 the information management system 100 may utilize information management policies 148 for specifying and executing information management operations (e.g., on an automated basis). Generally, an information management policy 148 can include a data structure or other information source that specifies a set of parameters (e.g., criteria and rules) associated with storage or other information management operations..; [0146] The one or more data agent(s) 142 are therefore advantageously configured in some embodiments to assist in the performance of information management operations based on the type of data that is being protected, at a client-specific and/or application-specific level.; this limitation is interpreted as non-functional descriptive – management policy for data management – the data privacy regulation is use to comply with but the claim limitation does not anything functional to the claim)
delete or rectify (eg., 0156 - modifying and/or deleting data retrieved from the particular secondary storage device 108.);
Mutha does not disclose, but Ahrens discloses
while modifying the specified record in the data records restored to the database in the primary storage system in accordance with the modification rule, without modifying the backup copy of the database in the backup storage system (eg., 0039-0040 Fig. 2 - stores an unsecure snapshot 210 storing data identified as sensitive data in unmasked form, i.e., original form without applying any masking function. The source storage system 100a applies a masking function to the unsecure snapshot 210 to obtain the secure snapshot 220a… source storage system 100a replicates 235 the secure snapshot 220a to the target system 100b. The replicated secure snapshot 220a is stored as the snapshot 220b on the target system 100b.).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the filing date of the claimed invention to modify the backup database store system storing primary data and secondary copy as disclosed by Mutha, with Ahrens , providing the benefit of creating copies of the data and masking them before making the copies available to the developer (see Ahrens, 0004); allows the target storage system to reconstruct the snapshot (0005) by masking sensitive data stored in the database blocks of the un-secure virtual databases (0034).
Mutha in view of Ahrens does not disclose, but Yueh discloses
in response to the first request, … to specify a modification to be applied to the specified record in a subsequent restore operation, and storing the modification rule in a modification repository (eg., 0020 - priority restore agent 130 acts (such as periodically when a defined "refresh" period expires) to access or look at the attributes of the data sets 116 (e.g., of a file system) and determine all the data sets that are active 117 based on the window 134 and parameters 136 (e.g., which files have been recently touched within the last month or some other useful time period) and which are key data sets 119, and these data sets are combined to create a priority restore data set 138.; 0021 - A request for restore may be received by the data protection application 120 (or remote data protection system 180), and a restore module 126 (or module 188) may restore one or more of the client nodes 112 using the priority restore data set 138; 0024 - automated restore rules may be default values or may be user tunable and/or selectable; [0029] The method 200 continues with a restore request (or some other initiator for a restore process) for one or more client devices/systems).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the filing date of the claimed invention to modify the backup database store system storing primary data and secondary copy as disclosed by Mutha, with Yueh, providing the benefit of an operator of a data protection or backup application 120, 184 may use its restore module (see Yueh, 0029) for facilitating automated restores of select data or files based on user-selectable criteria (0003).
Claim 12 is rejected for reasons similar to Claim 2 above.
Claim 14 is rejected for reasons similar to Claim 4 above.
Claim 15 is rejected for reasons similar to Claim 5 above.
Claim 16 is rejected for reasons similar to Claim 6 above.
Claim 17 is rejected for reasons similar to Claim 7 above.
Claim 18 is rejected for reasons similar to Claim 8 above.
Claim 19 is rejected for reasons similar to Claim 9 above.
Claim 20 is rejected for reasons similar to Claim 10 above.
Claim 21. Mutha discloses Apparatus for data backup, comprising (eg., 0098 Fig. 1A - information management system 100), comprising:
a backup storage device, which is configured to store a backup copy of a database comprising primary data records that are stored and accessed by clients in a primary storage system (eg., 0099 Fig. 1A - store one or more secondary copies 116 of the primary data 112 );
a backup and recovery system, which is configured to create, in response to a first request made by a client to modify a specified record in the primary storage system, a modification rule with respect to the specified record for application to the backup copy (eg., 0044 - the user may be able to perform operations like renaming, deleting, modifying flags, and modifying retention policies, on the backed up items. Although the underlying data in the backup may not change, with the metadata changed, the view of the backup data when the user browses the backup data can appear to include the user's changes. a restore of the data can cause those changes to be performed on the underlying backup data itself.; 0179 - a full backup copy as a baseline and only store changes relative to the full backup copy for subsequent backup copies.; 0253, 0258 - rules to apply to a particular data object,… computing devices that created, accessed, modified, or otherwise utilized primary data 112 or secondary copies 116;);
after storing the backup, receiving (eg., 0044 0297 - the user may be able to perform operations like renaming, deleting, modifying flags, and modifying retention policies, on the backed up items. Although the underlying data in the backup may not change, with the metadata changed, the view of the backup data when the user browses the backup data can appear to include the user's changes.).
to comply with a data privacy regulation (eg., 0136 the information management system 100 may utilize information management policies 148 for specifying and executing information management operations (e.g., on an automated basis). Generally, an information management policy 148 can include a data structure or other information source that specifies a set of parameters (e.g., criteria and rules) associated with storage or other information management operations..; [0146] The one or more data agent(s) 142 are therefore advantageously configured in some embodiments to assist in the performance of information management operations based on the type of data that is being protected, at a client-specific and/or application-specific level.; this limitation is interpreted as non-functional descriptive – management policy for data management – the data privacy regulation is use to comply with but the claim limitation does not anything functional to the claim)
delete or rectify (eg., 0156 - modifying and/or deleting data retrieved from the particular secondary storage device 108.);
to receive a second request, subsequent to the first request, to restore to the primary storage system from the backup copy one or more of the data records in the database, including the specified record, (eg., 0040 - Once restored, backups can be edited, but while the backups are in the secondary storage devices, they are not able to be edited; 0044 - backups are restored or browsed, the logical edits to the metadata can then be performed physically on the data to create a custom restore or a custom view ); and
in response to the second request, to restore the one or more of the data records from the backup copy in the backup storage device to the database in the primary storage system (eg., 0044 - . a custom restore or a custom view…. Although the underlying data in the backup may not change, with the metadata changed, the view of the backup data when the user browses the backup data can appear to include the user's changes; 0320 - [0320] At block 802, a data agent 142 receives a user request to browse or restore a backup.; 0321 - the data agent 142 can output a custom view for browsing or can restore the backup, as modified, while using the changed metadata and any retained original metadata to provide a custom view of the browse or restore data.; 0159 - restoring the data to a client computing device 102.).
Mutha does not disclose, but Ahrens discloses
while modifying the specified record in the data records restored to the database in the primary storage system in accordance with the modification rule, without modifying the backup copy of the database in the backup storage device (eg., 0039-0040 Fig. 2 - stores an unsecure snapshot 210 storing data identified as sensitive data in unmasked form, i.e., original form without applying any masking function. The source storage system 100a applies a masking function to the unsecure snapshot 210 to obtain the secure snapshot 220a… source storage system 100a replicates 235 the secure snapshot 220a to the target system 100b. The replicated secure snapshot 220a is stored as the snapshot 220b on the target system 100b.).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the filing date of the claimed invention to modify the backup database store system storing primary data and secondary copy as disclosed by Mutha, with Ahrens , providing the benefit of creating copies of the data and masking them before making the copies available to the developer (see Ahrens, 0004); allows the target storage system to reconstruct the snapshot (0005) by masking sensitive data stored in the database blocks of the un-secure virtual databases (0034).
Mutha in view of Ahrens does not disclose, but Yueh discloses
in response to the first request, … to specify a modification to be applied to the specified record in a subsequent restore operation, and storing the modification rule in a modification repository (eg., 0020 - priority restore agent 130 acts (such as periodically when a defined "refresh" period expires) to access or look at the attributes of the data sets 116 (e.g., of a file system) and determine all the data sets that are active 117 based on the window 134 and parameters 136 (e.g., which files have been recently touched within the last month or some other useful time period) and which are key data sets 119, and these data sets are combined to create a priority restore data set 138.; 0021 - A request for restore may be received by the data protection application 120 (or remote data protection system 180), and a restore module 126 (or module 188) may restore one or more of the client nodes 112 using the priority restore data set 138; 0024 - automated restore rules may be default values or may be user tunable and/or selectable; [0029] The method 200 continues with a restore request (or some other initiator for a restore process) for one or more client devices/systems).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the filing date of the claimed invention to modify the backup database store system storing primary data and secondary copy as disclosed by Mutha, with Yueh, providing the benefit of an operator of a data protection or backup application 120, 184 may use its restore module (see Yueh, 0029) for facilitating automated restores of select data or files based on user-selectable criteria (0003).
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, 2, 4-12, 14-21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Mutha (US 20160162364 A1) and in view of Ahrens (US 20160224259 A1), and in further in view of SQLServerTeam (Non-patent Literature “Use Dynamic Data Masking to Obfuscate Your Sensitive Data”, 2016, published on Microsoft website – https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/msoffice/forum/all/copy-pasting-urls-from-internet-in-microsoft-word/102d03f3-d01d-4d34-8f1e-dbc011420931) and further in view of Yueh (US 20070294320)
Claim 1. Mutha discloses A method for database backup (eg., 0098 Fig. 1A - information management system 100), comprising:
storing in a backup storage system a backup copy of a database comprising primary data records that are stored and accessed by clients in a primary storage system (eg., 0099 Fig. 1A - store one or more secondary copies 116 of the primary data 112 );
in response to a first request made by a client to modify a specified record in the primary storage system, creating a modification rule with respect to the specified record for application to the backup copy (eg., 0044 - the user may be able to perform operations like renaming, deleting, modifying flags, and modifying retention policies, on the backed up items. Although the underlying data in the backup may not change, with the metadata changed, the view of the backup data when the user browses the backup data can appear to include the user's changes. a restore of the data can cause those changes to be performed on the underlying backup data itself.; 0179 - a full backup copy as a baseline and only store changes relative to the full backup copy for subsequent backup copies.; 0253, 0258 - rules to apply to a particular data object,… computing devices that created, accessed, modified, or otherwise utilized primary data 112 or secondary copies 116;);
receiving a second request, subsequent to the first request, to restore to the primary storage system from the backup copy one or more of the data records in the database, including the specified record (eg., 0040 - Once restored, backups can be edited, but while the backups are in the secondary storage devices, they are not able to be edited; 0044 - backups are restored or browsed, the logical edits to the metadata can then be performed physically on the data to create a custom restore or a custom view ); and
in response to the second request, restoring the one or more of the data records from the backup copy in the backup storage system to the database in the primary storage system (eg., 0044 - . a custom restore or a custom view…. Although the underlying data in the backup may not change, with the metadata changed, the view of the backup data when the user browses the backup data can appear to include the user's changes; 0320 - [0320] At block 802, a data agent 142 receives a user request to browse or restore a backup.; 0321 - the data agent 142 can output a custom view for browsing or can restore the backup, as modified, while using the changed metadata and any retained original metadata to provide a custom view of the browse or restore data.; 0159 - restoring the data to a client computing device 102.).
Mutha does not disclose, but Ahrens discloses
while modifying the specified record in the data records restored to the database in the primary storage system in accordance with the modification rule (eg., 0039-0040 Fig. 2 - stores an unsecure snapshot 210 storing data identified as sensitive data in unmasked form, i.e., original form without applying any masking function. The source storage system 100a applies a masking function to the unsecure snapshot 210 to obtain the secure snapshot 220a… source storage system 100a replicates 235 the secure snapshot 220a to the target system 100b. The replicated secure snapshot 220a is stored as the snapshot 220b on the target system 100b.).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the filing date of the claimed invention to modify the backup database store system storing primary data and secondary copy as disclosed by Mutha, with Ahrens , providing the benefit of creating copies of the data and masking them before making the copies available to the developer (see Ahrens, 0004); allows the target storage system to reconstruct the snapshot (0005) by masking sensitive data stored in the database blocks of the un-secure virtual databases (0034).
Mutha in view of Ahrens does not disclose, but SQLServerTeam discloses
, without modifying the backup copy of the database in the backup storage system (eg., Dynamic Data Masking rules can be defined on particular columns, indicating how the data in those columns will appear when queried. There are no physical changes to the data in the database itself; ).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the filing date of the claimed invention to modify the backup database store system storing primary data and secondary copy as disclosed by Mutha, with Ahrens , with SQLServerTeam, providing the benefit of DDM can be used to hide or obfuscate sensitive data, by controlling how the data appears in the output of database queries (see SQLServerTeam, ).
Mutha in view of Ahrens and SQLServerTeam does not disclose, but Yueh discloses
in response to the first request, … to specify a modification to be applied to the specified record in a subsequent restore operation, and storing the modification rule in a modification repository (eg., 0020 - priority restore agent 130 acts (such as periodically when a defined "refresh" period expires) to access or look at the attributes of the data sets 116 (e.g., of a file system) and determine all the data sets that are active 117 based on the window 134 and parameters 136 (e.g., which files have been recently touched within the last month or some other useful time period) and which are key data sets 119, and these data sets are combined to create a priority restore data set 138.; 0021 - A request for restore may be received by the data protection application 120 (or remote data protection system 180), and a restore module 126 (or module 188) may restore one or more of the client nodes 112 using the priority restore data set 138; 0024 - automated restore rules may be default values or may be user tunable and/or selectable; [0029] The method 200 continues with a restore request (or some other initiator for a restore process) for one or more client devices/systems).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the filing date of the claimed invention to modify the backup database store system storing primary data and secondary copy as disclosed by Mutha, SQLServerTeam with Yueh, providing the benefit of an operator of a data protection or backup application 120, 184 may use its restore module (see Yueh, 0029) for facilitating automated restores of select data or files based on user-selectable criteria (0003).
Claim 2. Mutha does not disclose, but Ahrens discloses
wherein the modification rule causes content to be deleted from the specified record among the data records restored to the database (eg., 0034 - the database blocks of an un-secure virtual database that store sensitive data get modified (i.e., 0034 - for example, as a result of updating data, deleting data, or inserting data). In an embodiment, the masking of the data is performed by executing an update statement on the columns of tables storing the sensitive data. For example, the storage system 100 may execute an SQL (structured query language) update statement that replaces the sensitive data values with masked data values obtained by applying a masking function to the sensitive data values.).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the filing date of the claimed invention to modify the backup database store system storing primary data and secondary copy as disclosed by Mutha, with Ahrens , providing the benefit of creating copies of the data and masking them before making the copies available to the developer (see Ahrens, 0004); allows the target storage system to reconstruct the snapshot (0005) by masking sensitive data stored in the database blocks of the un-secure virtual databases (0034).
Claim 4. Mutha does not disclose, but Ahrens discloses
wherein the modification rule causes data to be replaced in the specified record among the data records restored to the database (eg., 0034 - the storage system 100 may execute an SQL (structured query language) update statement that replaces the sensitive data values with masked data values obtained by applying a masking function to the sensitive data values.).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the filing date of the claimed invention to modify the backup database store system storing primary data and secondary copy as disclosed by Mutha, with Ahrens , providing the benefit of creating copies of the data and masking them before making the copies available to the developer (see Ahrens, 0004); allows the target storage system to reconstruct the snapshot (0005) by masking sensitive data stored in the database blocks of the un-secure virtual databases (0034).
Claim 5. Mutha does not disclose, but Ahrens discloses
wherein the modification rule causes the data in the specified record to be replaced with an obfuscating character string. (eg., 0049 - obfuscating data… he data transformation module 380 performs masking by replacing either a portion of a number (i.e., a string of digits) with one or more characters. For example, if a number represents a social security number or a credit card number, the transformation function may replace a prefix of the number with a character, such as ‘x’. Accordingly, the data transformation module 380 replaces a number “123 456” with “xxx 456.”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the filing date of the claimed invention to modify the backup database store system storing primary data and secondary copy as disclosed by Mutha, with Ahrens , providing the benefit of creating copies of the data and masking them before making the copies available to the developer (see Ahrens, 0004); allows the target storage system to reconstruct the snapshot (0005) by masking sensitive data stored in the database blocks of the un-secure virtual databases (0034).
Claim 6. Mutha does not disclose, but Ahrens discloses
wherein the modification rule causes the data in the specified record to be rectified in the data records restored to the database (eg., 0049 - masking out digits, replacing names from a dictionary, or mathematical transformations).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the filing date of the claimed invention to modify the backup database store system storing primary data and secondary copy as disclosed by Mutha, with Ahrens , providing the benefit of creating copies of the data and masking them before making the copies available to the developer (see Ahrens, 0004); allows the target storage system to reconstruct the snapshot (0005) by masking sensitive data stored in the database blocks of the un-secure virtual databases (0034).
Claim 7. Mutha discloses
wherein the database is stored in the primary storage system in a native application format (eg., 0040 - the secondary, backup data being in a format that may differ significantly from the format of the primary data),
while the backup copy is stored in the backup storage system in a backup format, different from the native application format (eg., 0005, 0117 - performing can include storing backup data in a non-human readable format on a secondary storage device)
and wherein restoring the one or more of the data records comprises converting the one or more of the records from the backup format to the native application format and modifying the specified record in the native application format (eg., [0321] Fig. 8 - At block 806, the media agent 144 may also access the index to identify any retained original index metadata related to the changed metadata. At block 808, the data agent 142 can output a custom view for browsing or can restore the backup, as modified, while using the changed metadata and any retained original metadata to provide a custom view of the browse or restore data. As described above, the original metadata may be useful to obtain the physical location or physical characteristics of the actual data that has been subsequently changed in the metadata. Thus, the metadata that is newer may be linked to metadata that is older by the secondary storage editor 252, including the original metadata, to preserve the ability of the data agent 142 to restore the data and enable a user to browse the data.).
Claim 8, Mutha discloses
wherein the modification rule defines a search criterion, and wherein modifying the specified record comprises applying the search criterion to the one or more of the data records that are to be restored to identify the specified record for modification (eg., 0005 - graphical user interface can include functionality configured to enable the user to specify a user-defined textual pattern and to request that any files containing the user-defined textual pattern in the backup data be deleted. The method can further include searching the index for selected files containing the user-defined textual pattern.).
Claim 9, Mutha discloses
wherein the search criterion is applied to the backup copy as the one or more of the data records are restored or read from the backup copy and before the data records are restored to the database (eg., 0233 - and search capability for data in the system, such as data stored in the secondary storage devices 108 (e.g., backups, archives, or other secondary copies 116).
Claim 10, Mutha discloses wherein the search criterion comprises one or more of a record identifier, an entity name, an entity mailing address, an entity electronic mail address, an entity telephone number, and an entity social security number (eg., 0005 - searching the index for selected files containing the user-defined textual pattern.; 0042 - a user may want to find and delete all files that contain Social Security numbers or other sensitive personal data .; 0093 - a particular search term), user-supplied tags, to/from information for email (e.g., an email sender, recipient, etc.).
Claim 11. Mutha discloses A computer software product, comprising a non-transitory computer-readable medium in which program instructions are stored, which instructions, when read by a computer, cause the computer to (eg., 0098 Fig. 1A - information management system 100), comprising: store in a backup storage system a backup copy of a database comprising primary data records that are stored and accessed by clients in a primary storage system, (eg., 0099 Fig. 1A - store one or more secondary copies 116 of the primary data 112 ); to create, in response to a first request made by a client to modify a specified record in the primary storage system, a modification rule with respect to the specified record for application to the backup copy, (eg., 0044 - the user may be able to perform operations like renaming, deleting, modifying flags, and modifying retention policies, on the backed up items. Although the underlying data in the backup may not change, with the metadata changed, the view of the backup data when the user browses the backup data can appear to include the user's changes. a restore of the data can cause those changes to be performed on the underlying backup data itself.; 0179 - a full backup copy as a baseline and only store changes relative to the full backup copy for subsequent backup copies.; 0253, 0258 - rules to apply to a particular data object,… computing devices that created, accessed, modified, or otherwise utilized primary data 112 or secondary copies 116;); and in response to receiving a second request, subsequent to the first request, to restore to the primary storage system from the backup copy one or more of the data records in the database, including the specified record, to restore the one or more of the data records from the backup copy in the backup storage system to the database in the primary storage system (eg., 0040 - Once restored, backups can be edited, but while the backups are in the secondary storage devices, they are not able to be edited; 0044 - backups are restored or browsed, the logical edits to the metadata can then be performed physically on the data to create a custom restore or a custom view ); (eg., 0044 - . a custom restore or a custom view…. Although the underlying data in the backup may not change, with the metadata changed, the view of the backup data when the user browses the backup data can appear to include the user's changes; 0320 - [0320] At block 802, a data agent 142 receives a user request to browse or restore a backup.; 0321 - the data agent 142 can output a custom view for browsing or can restore the backup, as modified, while using the changed metadata and any retained original metadata to provide a custom view of the browse or restore data.; 0159 - restoring the data to a client computing device 102.).
Mutha does not disclose, but Ahrens discloses
while modifying the specified record in the data records restored to the database in the primary storage system in accordance with the modification rule (eg., 0039-0040 Fig. 2 - stores an unsecure snapshot 210 storing data identified as sensitive data in unmasked form, i.e., original form without applying any masking function. The source storage system 100a applies a masking function to the unsecure snapshot 210 to obtain the secure snapshot 220a… source storage system 100a replicates 235 the secure snapshot 220a to the target system 100b. The replicated secure snapshot 220a is stored as the snapshot 220b on the target system 100b.).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the filing date of the claimed invention to modify the backup database store system storing primary data and secondary copy as disclosed by Mutha, with Ahrens , providing the benefit of creating copies of the data and masking them before making the copies available to the developer (see Ahrens, 0004); allows the target storage system to reconstruct the snapshot (0005) by masking sensitive data stored in the database blocks of the un-secure virtual databases (0034).
Mutha does not disclose, but SQLServerTeam discloses
without modifying the backup copy of the database in the backup storage system (eg., Dynamic Data Masking rules can be defined on particular columns, indicating how the data in those columns will appear when queried. There are no physical changes to the data in the database itself; ).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the filing date of the claimed invention to modify the backup database store system storing primary data and secondary copy as disclosed by Mutha, with Ahrens , with SQLServerTeam, providing the benefit of DDM can be used to hide or obfuscate sensitive data, by controlling how the data appears in the output of database queries (see SQLServerTeam, ).
Mutha in view of Ahrens and SQLServerTeam does not disclose, but Yueh discloses
in response to the first request, … to specify a modification to be applied to the specified record in a subsequent restore operation, and storing the modification rule in a modification repository (eg., 0020 - priority restore agent 130 acts (such as periodically when a defined "refresh" period expires) to access or look at the attributes of the data sets 116 (e.g., of a file system) and determine all the data sets that are active 117 based on the window 134 and parameters 136 (e.g., which files have been recently touched within the last month or some other useful time period) and which are key data sets 119, and these data sets are combined to create a priority restore data set 138.; 0021 - A request for restore may be received by the data protection application 120 (or remote data protection system 180), and a restore module 126 (or module 188) may restore one or more of the client nodes 112 using the priority restore data set 138; 0024 - automated restore rules may be default values or may be user tunable and/or selectable; [0029] The method 200 continues with a restore request (or some other initiator for a restore process) for one or more client devices/systems).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the filing date of the claimed invention to modify the backup database store system storing primary data and secondary copy as disclosed by Mutha, SQLServerTeam with Yueh, providing the benefit of an operator of a data protection or backup application 120, 184 may use its restore module (see Yueh, 0029) for facilitating automated restores of select data or files based on user-selectable criteria (0003).
Claim 12 is rejected for reasons similar to Claim 2 above.
Claim 14 is rejected for reasons similar to Claim 4 above.
Claim 15 is rejected for reasons similar to Claim 5 above.
Claim 16 is rejected for reasons similar to Claim 6 above.
Claim 17 is rejected for reasons similar to Claim 7 above.
Claim 18 is rejected for reasons similar to Claim 8 above.
Claim 19 is rejected for reasons similar to Claim 9 above.
Claim 20 is rejected for reasons similar to Claim 10 above.
Claim 21. Mutha discloses Apparatus for data backup, comprising (eg., 0098 Fig. 1A - information management system 100), comprising:
a backup storage device, which is configured to store a backup copy of a database comprising primary data records that are stored and accessed by clients in a primary storage system (eg., 0099 Fig. 1A - store one or more secondary copies 116 of the primary data 112 );
a backup and recovery system, which is configured to create, in response to a first request made by a client to modify a specified record in the primary storage system, a modification rule with respect to the specified record for application to the backup copy (eg., 0044 - the user may be able to perform operations like renaming, deleting, modifying flags, and modifying retention policies, on the backed up items. Although the underlying data in the backup may not change, with the metadata changed, the view of the backup data when the user browses the backup data can appear to include the user's changes. a restore of the data can cause those changes to be performed on the underlying backup data itself.; 0179 - a full backup copy as a baseline and only store changes relative to the full backup copy for subsequent backup copies.; 0253, 0258 - rules to apply to a particular data object,… computing devices that created, accessed, modified, or otherwise utilized primary data 112 or secondary copies 116;);
to receive a second request, subsequent to the first request, to restore to the primary storage system from the backup copy one or more of the data records in the database, including the specified record, (eg., 0040 - Once restored, backups can be edited, but while the backups are in the secondary storage devices, they are not able to be edited; 0044 - backups are restored or browsed, the logical edits to the metadata can then be performed physically on the data to create a custom restore or a custom view ); and
in response to the second request, to restore the one or more of the data records from the backup copy in the backup storage device to the database in the primary storage system (eg., 0044 - . a custom restore or a custom view…. Although the underlying data in the backup may not change, with the metadata changed, the view of the backup data when the user browses the backup data can appear to include the user's changes; 0320 - [0320] At block 802, a data agent 142 receives a user request to browse or restore a backup.; 0321 - the data agent 142 can output a custom view for browsing or can restore the backup, as modified, while using the changed metadata and any retained original metadata to provide a custom view of the browse or restore data.; 0159 - restoring the data to a client computing device 102.).
Mutha does not disclose, but Ahrens discloses
while modifying the specified record in the data records restored to the database in the primary storage system in accordance with the modification rule, (eg., 0039-0040 Fig. 2 - stores an unsecure snapshot 210 storing data identified as sensitive data in unmasked form, i.e., original form without applying any masking function. The source storage system 100a applies a masking function to the unsecure snapshot 210 to obtain the secure snapshot 220a… source storage system 100a replicates 235 the secure snapshot 220a to the target system 100b. The replicated secure snapshot 220a is stored as the snapshot 220b on the target system 100b.).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the filing date of the claimed invention to modify the backup database store system storing primary data and secondary copy as disclosed by Mutha, with Ahrens , providing the benefit of creating copies of the data and masking them before making the copies available to the developer (see Ahrens, 0004); allows the target storage system to reconstruct the snapshot (0005) by masking sensitive data stored in the database blocks of the un-secure virtual databases (0034).
Mutha does not disclose, but SQLServerTeam discloses
without modifying the backup copy of the database in the backup storage device eg., Dynamic Data Masking rules can be defined on particular columns, indicating how the data in those columns will appear when queried. There are no physical changes to the data in the database itself; ).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the filing date of the claimed invention to modify the backup database store system storing primary data and secondary copy as disclosed by Mutha, with Ahrens , with SQLServerTeam, providing the benefit of DDM can be used to hide or obfuscate sensitive data, by controlling how the data appears in the output of database queries (see SQLServerTeam, ).
Mutha in view of Ahrens and SQLServerTeam does not disclose, but Yueh discloses
in response to the first request, … to specify a modification to be applied to the specified record in a subsequent restore operation, and storing the modification rule in a modification repository (eg., 0020 - priority restore agent 130 acts (such as periodically when a defined "refresh" period expires) to access or look at the attributes of the data sets 116 (e.g., of a file system) and determine all the data sets that are active 117 based on the window 134 and parameters 136 (e.g., which files have been recently touched within the last month or some other useful time period) and which are key data sets 119, and these data sets are combined to create a priority restore data set 138.; 0021 - A request for restore may be received by the data protection application 120 (or remote data protection system 180), and a restore module 126 (or module 188) may restore one or more of the client nodes 112 using the priority restore data set 138; 0024 - automated restore rules may be default values or may be user tunable and/or selectable; [0029] The method 200 continues with a restore request (or some other initiator for a restore process) for one or more client devices/systems).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the filing date of the claimed invention to modify the backup database store system storing primary data and secondary copy as disclosed by Mutha, SQLServerTeam with Yueh, providing the benefit of an operator of a data protection or backup application 120, 184 may use its restore module (see Yueh, 0029) for facilitating automated restores of select data or files based on user-selectable criteria (0003).
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 12/14/2025 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
For claims 1, 11 and 21, Applicant argues that that the cited references do not disclose the amended limitations. The Office disagrees.
In the present OA, the updated combination of references render the amended limitations as obvious.
Specifically, Mutha discloses
after storing the backup, receiving (eg., 0044 0297 - the user may be able to perform operations like renaming, deleting, modifying flags, and modifying retention policies, on the backed up items. Although the underlying data in the backup may not change, with the metadata changed, the view of the backup data when the user browses the backup data can appear to include the user's changes.).
to comply with a data privacy regulation (eg., 0136 the information management system 100 may utilize information management policies 148 for specifying and executing information management operations (e.g., on an automated basis). Generally, an information management policy 148 can include a data structure or other information source that specifies a set of parameters (e.g., criteria and rules) associated with storage or other information management operations..; [0146] The one or more data agent(s) 142 are therefore advantageously configured in some embodiments to assist in the performance of information management operations based on the type of data that is being protected, at a client-specific and/or application-specific level.; this limitation is interpreted as non-functional descriptive – management policy for data management – the data privacy regulation is use to comply with but the claim limitation does not anything functional to the claim)
delete or rectify (eg., 0156 - modifying and/or deleting data retrieved from the particular secondary storage device 108.);
Mutha in view of Ahrens and SQLServerTeam does not disclose, but Yueh discloses
in response to the first request, … to specify a modification to be applied to the specified record in a subsequent restore operation, and storing the modification rule in a modification repository (eg., 0020 - priority restore agent 130 acts (such as periodically when a defined "refresh" period expires) to access or look at the attributes of the data sets 116 (e.g., of a file system) and determine all the data sets that are active 117 based on the window 134 and parameters 136 (e.g., which files have been recently touched within the last month or some other useful time period) and which are key data sets 119, and these data sets are combined to create a priority restore data set 138.; 0021 - A request for restore may be received by the data protection application 120 (or remote data protection system 180), and a restore module 126 (or module 188) may restore one or more of the client nodes 112 using the priority restore data set 138; 0024 - automated restore rules may be default values or may be user tunable and/or selectable; [0029] The method 200 continues with a restore request (or some other initiator for a restore process) for one or more client devices/systems).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the filing date of the claimed invention to modify the backup database store system storing primary data and secondary copy as disclosed by Mutha, SQLServerTeam with Yueh, providing the benefit of an operator of a data protection or backup application 120, 184 may use its restore module (see Yueh, 0029) for facilitating automated restores of select data or files based on user-selectable criteria (0003).
Applicant’s arguments for dependent claims are based on their respective base independent claims 1 and 11, which are addressed above.
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
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/GAUTAM SAIN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2135